Masked by Revenge
by Kernl Autobahn Sandrz
Summary: Nucleo moves into the mansion...Mutant hunters go on a rampage...an unknown group is discovered to be much more than a minor threat...
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: The Kernl has returned!! Look how many people are excited!! Uh, not too many, but that's ok. My sources tell me that today is one of my reviewer's birthday. Happy Birthday! Anyway, I don't own the X-Men...the real X-Men, that is. There are quite a few original characters that I do own. And there will be more...I can guarantee that. Now, for those of you who haven't read Domination at all Costs...go read it before you read this. You won't understand this fanfic if you don't.   
  
A dark figure moved through the shadows of the buildings. Reaching a nearby pub, he stopped, staying hidden within the shadows. He pressed his left ear to the window so that he could also see inside the room.  
Inside the pub, Carl Towers had just ordered another drink. The man next to him had obviously had too much to drink, for he was teetering slightly on his seat while squinting up at one of the ceiling lights.  
"That's all for tonight, Bill," Carl told the bartender.  
Carl placed his money on the bar and turned to leave.  
"In my opinion," the drunk man said loudly behind him, "a colored man ought to leave a bit more dough than that."  
Carl turned around, "Sounds to me like we're a bit racist."  
"Are you threatnin' me?" the drunken man stood up.  
"I can be," Carl raised his eyebrows and shrugged, "Do you feel threatened?"  
"I won't take this from a black man!" the drunk man raged.  
"Bring it on!" Carl taunted, opening his arms wide.  
The drunk man charged Carl who easily sidestepped the clumsy attack. Carl's hands began to give off a blue glow. Carl took a quick look at his hands and dashed towards the exit. As soon as he was outside he stopped and looked at his hands again. If anyone found out that he was a mutant...he didn't even want to think about that.  
Carl sighed and looked around cautiously. The moonlight was suddenly reflected off of something in the darkness. Carl ignored it and began to walk home.  
Behind him, the dark figure smiled, moonlight still glinting off of the glass eye in his right socket. Quietly, the figure began to follow Carl.  
Carl was a few feet from his apartment when someone spoke behind him.  
"You caused quite a lot of mayhem back there," the figure had long, silvery hair that was tied back behind his head and Carl recognized the man's glass eye as the object glinting in the shadows at the pub.  
"Do I know you?" Carl asked calmly.  
"No," the man replied simply, "But I've been watching you, Carl."  
"Whoa! You're stalking me?!" Carl took a few steps backwards.  
"No," the man smiled, "You're a mutant, Carl."  
"Ok, yeah, but don't tell anyone," Carl admitted, looking around for anyone leaning out their windows.  
"Being a mutant is nothing to be ashamed of," the man assured him.  
"Yeah, it is pretty cool except for the fact that everyone hates you," Carl said, shrugging, "What do you want anyway?"  
"Revenge!" the man said, grinning insanely.  
"Um, ok," Carl scratched his head, "revenge on who?"  
"The mutant known as Magneto," the man grimaced.  
"Yeah, I think I've heard of him somewhere," Carl nodded.  
"He will pay for what he did to me," the man stared off into space.  
"Uh, right," Carl looked around to see if there was anyone around watching this strange scene, "You actually haven't told me who you are."  
"I am Nucleo," the man looked back at Carl, "and you, Mayhem, are going to join me." 


	2. Student Pandemonium

Here it is! The official first chapter! I know you're all excited and all that stuff. Anyway, I made it nice and long. Oh, and for you people who hate original characters...you are in for an unpleasant surprise. This sequel will soon be packed with original characters, because I love them. And in case, you didn't know, I only own the original characters and the plot. Wait...one mistake, three original characters are NOT mine...Aaron, Shawn, and Bear belong to Pyrotic. I got permission to use them, so it's not like they're out for the taking...you must ASK FIRST!!!!   
  
Aaron Kerr studied the blueprints in his hand. He removed a walkie-talkie from his belt.  
"Windowpane!" he said softly into the walkie-talkie, "This is King Kerr. Are you in position?"  
"Yeah, I'm in position," the voice of Aaron's twin brother Shawn came through the walkie-talkie, "Why do you get to be 'King Kerr'?"  
Aaron ignored him, "Nightlight, how about you?"  
"Yup, I'm ready," Ruben Ryder's voice emitted from the device in Aaron's hand, "I'm 'Spying Hard'."  
Aaron rolled his eyes, "Ok, Aunt Artica, what's your status?"  
"It's all clear down here," Cory Sanders spoke through the walkie- talkie, "I notice your codename is better than everyone else's."  
"That's ok," Aaron muttered seriously into his two-way radio, "Nice rhyme, by the way."  
Turning around, Aaron spotted Max Crawford walking towards him and the nearby stairway. Max happened to be a short-tempered, muscular guy in his late teens. Aaron shot out in front of him before he could get to the stairs.  
"Uh, Max, heh, heh, how's it goin'?" Aaron said innocently.  
Max raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong with this stairway?"  
"This stairway?" Aaron struggled to think of something, "Uh, Mr. Summers is in a real bad mood and he's lurking down there trying to catch some unsuspecting kid in his trap."  
At that moment, Scott Summers turned the corner and began to walk towards the stairway.  
"Quick, in here!" Aaron dragged Max into the nearest room.  
Aaron suddenly realized where he was as Rogue, Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, and Rahne Sinclair stared at them.  
"Uh, sorry, folks," Aaron said, feeling rather stupid and taking the walkie-talkie from his belt, "Get ready, troops!"  
Scott moved towards the stairway. Taking one step downward, his foot found some conveniently placed marbles. Experiencing the inevitable, he continued to slip down the stairway meeting marbles on every step.  
Shawn, hearing the commotion, tightened his grip on the near invisible wire attached to the wall opposite him. Cory, also hearing the pandemonium, opened the basement door (which was directly across from the stairway) and placed the trash barrel on the top step. He then ran to hide.  
Seeing Cory flee, Ruben opened the old washing machine, squirting a mixture of soap foam and maple syrup inside. Ruben then made a run for the secret escape route hidden in the basement.  
Meanwhile, Scott had reached the last step and thought his ordeal was over. Shawn, however, quickly changed Scott's mind by pulling on the wire, causing Scott to trip directly into the trash barrel waiting for him. The barrel then continued to roll down the basement stairs until it reached the last step. The barrel suddenly flipped, sending Scott careening into the rusty washing machine, expediently filled with foam and syrup.  
Back in the girls' room, Aaron spoke into the hand-held radio, "Did it work?"  
"Judging from all the noise, I think it did," Shawn answered.  
Aaron turned to the girls and said importantly, "I'll be leaving you now."  
With that, he pulled Max back out of the room.  
"See, Scott's down in the basement and I'm sure he's real mad, and he's probably going to try to kill the first kid he sees," Aaron explained to Max, "What'd I tell ya?"  
Aaron met up with Shawn, Cory, and Ruben in the Meal Room.  
"Well, I think we were successful," Aaron said triumphantly.  
"Successful at what?" Ray Crisp had just walked up to the group.  
"Uh, well, nothing really," Shawn shook his head.  
"Dude, you guys are never doing 'nothing really'," Allen Orris commented from behind Ray.  
"Spit it out," Kyle Grifford said, standing at least a foot above the rest of them and shaking his long, curly hair out of his face.  
"Ok," Aaron said and then gasped, "Look behind you!!!!"  
Scott had just walked into the room, covered in sticky looking foam.  
"RUN!!!" Aaron and Shawn screamed at the same time.  
Aaron, Shawn, Ruben, and Cory scattered, while Ray, Allen, and Kyle simply turned around to see exactly what was behind them. A split second later they were overcome by a spasm of laughter which left them helpless for the following five minutes.  
Bobby Drake was helping Sam Guthrie with homework, when a large armadillo hurtled past them, followed by Shawn, Ruben, and Cory. Bobby and Sam received an even greater surprise when a foamy Scott flew around the corner in a rage.  
Shawn, Ruben, Cory, and the armadillo burst into the room of Travis Cooper, Frank Rogers, and Max. Cory also bunked in that room.  
"Hey, guys, what's up?" Travis looked up from the chessboard that he and Frank were using.  
"I'm dominating Travis, here," Frank informed everyone. The chessboard was, in fact, covered with Frank's pieces. Travis had only a few dotted around the board.  
"Anyway, what's going on?" Travis tried again.  
"A man of intrigue, he lives for the thrill," Ruben broke into song, "Always has places to go, and people to kill."  
"No, actually, we're trying to escape Summers," Shawn explained.  
"What'd you do to him now?" Travis asked, curious.  
"Well, let's just say he looks like a sticky sheep," Aaron said hesitantly after changing back from the armadillo.  
"Uh, guys, we should close the door," Cory suggested, "He's coming."  
"Heeeeee wouldn't care, if they kicked him, and grabbed him, and shot him, and stabbed him, and nailed both his ears to the wall," Ruben sang loudly.  
"Keep it down, you glow-in-the-dark fool," Aaron hissed, "He'll hear us."  
The door suddenly burst open to reveal the foamy Scott. Apparently, the syrup had been pretty sticky because a framed picture of a tree was stuck to Scott's head.  
"Alright! Alright!" Shawn fell to his knees, begging, "We'll come quietly as long you don't touch us with those sticky hands!"  
The four pranksters followed Scott from the room hanging their heads.  
"They're in for a brutal chastisement this time," Frank shook his head.  
  
Later that day, everyone was sitting around the tables in the Meal Room. Bobby was still getting his dinner from Mr. Kamon, the aged cook.  
"I'll have steak and a roll," Bobby told him.  
Mr. Kamon picked up a piece of steak with a pair of tongs and reached for a roll from a basket.  
"Aagh! They're moldy!!!" Mr. Kamon shouted, throwing the basket of moldy rolls backwards.  
"I'll just stick with the steak," Bobby assured the crazy cook.  
"I wouldn't expect pancakes or any of that sort for breakfast tomorrow," Mr. Kamon warned him, "unless you like 'em plain! We don't got no more syrup for some reason!"  
Bobby walked quickly away from the food counter and towards the tables. He sat down next to Kurt Wagner and Louis Shultz.  
"The rolls were moldy," Bobby told them all as he sat down.  
"Yeah, we noticed," Amara Aquilla said, disgusted.  
"We probably should have warned you," Evan Daniels shrugged.  
"But we thought it would have been funnier if you actually ate one," Ray smirked, "Mr. Kamon spoiled it though."  
"Oh, thanks," Bobby said sarcastically.  
"Incoming!" Roberto Da Costa pointed to a furball flying through the air. The furball landed between Steve and Melanie Seaton.  
"I's come to munch on you's foooooood!" the furball said threateningly, "Yummermunchles! Gobbleychompchomp! Ha! Ha! Haaaa!"  
"Here, Bear," Siryn said calmly, pushing a piece of steak to the furball.  
"Raaahhh!" Bear pounced on the steak and ate it, making growling noises, "Now I's thuwsty!"  
Bear walked across the table to Ruben's glass of root beer. Picking it up, he turned to Sarah Weidman's glass of orange soda and dumped the root beer into the other glass. He then proceeded to guzzle the 'orange beer' until it was gone. He gave a tiny belch.  
"Nummy!" he said satisfied, "I's done now! I's goin' ta bed fowa stowy!"  
  
Over at the other table, Scott was retelling his experience with the rest of the teachers.  
"So I suddenly found myself inside an old washing machine," Scott explained, "I was covered with foam and syrup."  
"How did you punish them?" Jean Grey asked while Logan snorted in his beer.  
"I gave them cleaning duty for the next two months," Scott said.  
"Isn't that a little harsh?" Hank McCoy asked, scratching his furry head.  
"I've had enough of their pranks," Scott said seriously.  
Tom Fulke, Peter Rasputin, Ben Flemming, and Logan got up and left the room. Scott and Jean accompanied Storm, Beast, and Professor Charles Xavier to his office.  
"You four can tell the other four later," Xavier said immediately, "but, I have some information on Nucleo."  
"What's he doing?" Storm asked.  
"A local mutant known as Carl Towers was renamed Mayhem and..." Xavier started.  
"He joined Nucleo didn't he?" Jean already knew the answer.  
"Yes," Xavier said grimly, "Although I believe he doesn't have anything against humans, his plan could become disastrous."  
"Keep us updated," Scott said seriously.  
"I'll be checking on him with Cerebro frequently to see what he's up to," Xavier assured him.  
  
The next morning, Roberto, Shawn, Aaron, and Kyle woke up to an outburst in the neighboring room.  
"It's too early for this," Roberto groaned.  
"Ooh, this should be good," Aaron pressed his ear to the wall only to take it away again. A loud burst of singing had issued from the other side of the wall.  
"Wow," Aaron said covering his ear.  
"I'll be mellow when I'm dead, I'll be mellow when I'm dead, I'll be mellow when I'm dead!" Ruben's song easily moved through the wall.  
"You will be dead if you don't stop singing!" Ray yelled.  
"Dude! I'm trying to snooze!" Allen shouted.  
"Can't you guys ever sleep in?!" Bobby voiced his thoughts loudly.  
Shawn crept to the door and disappeared from view, "I think I'll lighten his mood a bit by surprising him."  
A few moments later they heard Bobby leave the room. A few moments after that, they heard Shawn's 'surprise'.  
"AAAAAAAAAAAA," Bobby yelled in shock and frustration.  
"Happy to be of service," Shawn dashed back into his room, shutting and locking the door.  
Bobby ground his teeth in frustration. He couldn't stand Ruben in the mornings. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't stand Ray, Allen, Aaron, Shawn, or basically anyone else in the mornings. Checking his watch, Bobby groaned. It was 6:33.  
"I'm not going back in there," Bobby told himself, "I won't be getting any sleep."  
Bobby walked across the hallway and down the stairs.  
"I might as well see if Mr. Kamon is cooking breakfast yet," Bobby said aloud.  
Bobby rounded the corner to see Packrat sniffing the air. Professor Xavier had taken Packrat in after finding him in a cave with the help of the older X-Men. Packrat's only problems were his appearance, his love for random objects, and his slight insanity.  
"What're you doing, Packrat?" Bobby asked for lack of anything better to do.  
"Brine smells sneakley peoples creepsing about," Packrat answered. He often called himself Brine, trying to pronounce his actual name, Brian.  
"Are you sure you don't smell Mr. Kamon cooking?" Bobby asked.  
"Not cookys!" Packrat shook his head, "Is peoples trompsing about in the grass!"  
"Are you sure?" Bobby said calmly.  
"Yes!" Packrat looked around at the ceiling, "Must find the slinksome creatures."  
"Alright," Bobby yawned, "I'll go check out anything outside and you can stay in here and get breakfast or something."  
"Brekface?" Packrat grinned, "Brine is very hungersome."  
Bobby watched Packrat scurry away into the Meal Room and then turned around and walked towards the front door. Reaching the door he paused.  
"What am I doing?" he thought to himself, "Why would there possibly be anyone outside?"  
He sighed, "I might as well check."  
He opened the door and took a step back in shock. A girl with shoulder-length blonde hair was standing outside holding a few suitcases. A taller guy, obviously her brother, his hair was the same shade of blonde as the girl's was. He was walking up the path balancing an armload of duffel bags on his arms. It was like he was trying to keep his hands off of anything.  
"Nice pajamas," the girl commented.  
"Uh, thanks," Bobby stuttered, still getting over his shock, "Well, come in, I guess."  
"Man o' the house, eh?" the girl remarked, following Bobby into the house.  
"Great," Bobby thought to himself, "a witty, Irish girl."  
"So, where we staying?" the girl was obviously outgoing.  
"Well, I wouldn't know," Bobby said calmly.  
"Keep it down out there!" Mr. Kamon bellowed quite loudly, "You'll wake the whole mansion with that racket!"  
"Sorry, Mr. Kamon," Bobby apologized.  
"Oh, I completely forgot!" the girl exclaimed as Mr. Kamon went grumbling into the Meal Room, "I'm Erin McNevin! Oh, and this is my brother, Chris. Don't shake his hand though. It'll hurt!"  
"Um, ok," Bobby decided to introduce himself, "I'm Bobby Drake."  
"Cool! Where is everyone?" Erin looked around.  
"Oh, well, it's a little early for everyone to be awake," Bobby explained.  
"Well, how come you're awake?" Erin asked.  
"Well, that's a long story," Bobby sighed.  
"Great! You can tell us over breakfast," Erin suggested without waiting for an objection, "C'mon, Chris!"  
Before they could enter the Meal Room, Xavier wheeled himself up to the students.  
"If you come with me, Chris, I can do something about your hands," Xavier offered.  
"Um, ok," Chris accepted, looking rather surprised that Xavier knew his name.  
Bobby and Erin watched Chris follow Xavier away down the hallway.  
"Let me explain," Erin said as she entered the Meal Room, "Obviously, we're mutants. Chris's mutation is kind of annoying. Anything that makes contact with the palms of his hands..."  
She paused, mysteriously, "dissolves, is eaten away, burns to nothing!"  
"Oh," Bobby took a bite of a muffin, "They call me Iceman. It's kind of self explanatory."  
"Are we supposed to have names like that?" Erin asked suddenly.  
"I don't think you have to," Bobby shrugged, "but it's kind of a cool thing."  
"I'll have to try to think of one for me, then," Erin declared.  
"What's your power anyway?" Bobby's curiosity got the better of him.  
"I can make these neat, pink bubbly things," Erin tried to explain.  
"Um, that's uh..." Bobby stuttered, not understanding at all.  
"Here, let me show you," Erin cut him off. Clenching her fist, she raised it in front of her. She unclenched it revealing a hot pink, glowing sphere.  
"I can make em' bigger or smaller and make more," Erin clarified, "I can do all sorts o' cool stuff with em'."  
She clenched the sphere in her fist again and it was gone. Bobby checked his watch.  
"I'm sure people will start to come down now," Bobby informed her.  
"Well, I'm going to go greet them," Erin stood up.  
Bobby watched her walk away and couldn't help thinking that the mansion had just adopted another nut.  
Erin rounded the corner and stopped by the staircase. She only had to wait a moment before someone walked down the stairs.  
"Hi!" Erin said immediately.  
Amara nearly jumped out of her shoes.  
"You scared me," she said catching her breath.  
"Oh, sorry," Erin apologized.  
"That's alright," Amara assured her, "I'm Amara Aquilla."  
"I'm Erin McNevin," Erin introduced herself, "You'll see my brother, Chris eventually."  
"Cool. I'll see you later," Amara smiled.  
"Ok," Erin waved and turned back to the stairway.  
Shawn walked down the stairs and almost walked into Erin.  
"Excuse me, Madame," Shawn said elegantly, "I didn't see you there."  
"Um, ok," Erin stared at him.  
"Hey, you're new, aren't you!" the fact had suddenly hit Shawn hard in the head.  
"Aye," Erin nodded.  
"I'm Shawn Kerr," Shawn extended his hand, "Master of Camouflage."  
"I'm Erin McNevin," Erin shook his hand.  
"Heeeyyyy! My brother's name is Aaron!" Shawn grinned.  
"Why do you have a squirrel on your shoulder?" Erin asked.  
"What?! A squirrel?!" Shawn looked around frantically and gasped, "A SQUIRREL!!"  
Shawn snatched the squirrel from his shoulder and hurled it away, down the hall.  
"Oh, dear," Shawn hit himself in the forehead, "Aaron'll never forgive me for this one."  
Erin scratched her head while Shawn dashed down the hall apologizing to the squirrel. Erin shrugged and walked back into the Meal Room.  
The Meal Room was filled now. There must have been another staircase, since Erin knew that she had only met two people and one squirrel. She sat down next to Bobby and her brother.  
"Dude, it's the other Aaron!" Allen exclaimed.  
"Her name's, like, spelled differently," Kitty told him.  
"Eeeeverything you know is wrong," Ruben sang.  
"What a welcome," Ray shook his head.  
"Mo peepo!" Bear popped out of nowhere.  
"Hey, Chris, what's with the gloves?" Travis asked, curious.  
"Your professor gave them to me because my power, uh, isn't safe without the gloves," Chris said shyly, obviously a lot less outgoing than his sister, "These gloves are specially designed."  
"What happens if you take them off?" Rogue asked tugging at her own gloves, "Is your skin dangerous?"  
"Only the palms of my hands," Chris explained, "Anything that touches them is burned through."  
"My skin is dangerous, too," Rogue stated, "Touching my skin allows me to steal your power temporarily and also give you a nasty surprise."  
"Shawn, where's your brother?" Erin asked Aaron, thinking he was Shawn.  
"I'm not Shawn," Aaron gritted his teeth.  
"You are, too," Erin insisted, "You're the Master of Camouflage."  
"No, I'm not," Aaron mumbled, "I'm the squirrel."  
"The squirrel?" Erin's confusion nearly matched Allen's level.  
"I'm the Master of Camouflage," Shawn said from a few seats away, "Good, old Aaron here can transform into any animal, including things from his own twisted mind."  
"You're the one with the twisted mind, you squirrel slinger," Aaron cast Shawn a dirty look while Shawn gave a dry laugh.  
"Why is he singing?" Erin asked, indicating Ruben.  
"It's one of the great mysteries of life," Ray replied seriously. Amara jabbed him with her elbow.  
"Hey, has anyone seen Max?" Kyle asked, looking around.  
"He was present at the precise moment of my awakening," Frank offered.  
"He was the last one out of the room, if he left at all," Cory frowned.  
"Who's Max?" Erin asked.  
"He's kind of a big guy," Aaron explained, "Doesn't talk much, spiky hairstyle, neat-looking shades."  
"Dude, maybe he got lost," Allen suggested.  
"Yeah, sure, Allen," Travis shook his head.  
  
Xavier quickly rolled himself down the hallway. He stopped at the door to Cerebro and waited for it to open. He moved into the room and placed the headset on his head. The images of mutants immediately flooded the room. Searching, Xavier finally saw the form of Max Crawford. His fears had been confirmed.  
He removed the headset and wheeled himself back out of the room. Turning a corner, he found Jean exiting a room.  
"Jean!" Xavier exclaimed, panicking, "Max has left the institute!"  
  
Enjoy it did you? Well, review if you did. If not, then you just wasted your precious time. Anyway, I thought it would be helpful to you if I specified where I got any specific quotes. I will eventually go back and do this to Domination at all Costs, but not now.  
The only quote-like things in this chapter are:  
Ruben sings small parts of the Weird Al songs:  
  
Spy Hard  
  
I'll Be Mellow When I'm Dead  
Everything You Know Is Wrong  
  
I will hopefully post the next chapter soon, but I will be gone next week, so it may not be for a while.  
disappears mysteriously 


	3. The Brotherhood

You guys know that I don't own X-Men. You guys SHOULD know that I own all the OC's except for the three characters that belong to Pyrotic. Anyway, this is basically a chapter to reintroduce the Brotherhood. It's alright.   
  
"I hate this place," Todd Tolensky (Toad) complained.  
The Brotherhood had recently moved into a big, metal shack.  
"There's no TV, no radio, no food," Toad continued to whine, "No nothin'!"  
"Shut up, you lousy stinkball!" Lance Alvers (Avalanche) snapped. Lance was sitting in a torn up armchair, reading a book.  
"Just 'cause you like to read doesn't mean you can spoil everyone else's fun," Toad protested.  
"Are you guys fighting again?" Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver) shot into the room, "That's all you guys do since we've moved into this rust bucket."  
In the other room, Eddie "Mosquito" Sullivan sighed.  
"They're at it again, Pyro."  
John Allerdyce just stared at the tin can full of dry leaves and twigs that he had placed on the table. Flicking open his lighter, he ignited the items contained in the can.  
"Well, as long as you care," Mosquito rolled his eyes.  
Freddy Dukes (Blob) walked out of the kitchen carrying a large plate filled with various foods. He set the plate down on a large table which had become the location of one of the Brotherhood's favorite pastime. Poker. Gathered around the table along with Freddy were: Remy LeBeau (Gambit), Ralph Smith (Paste), Nate Coyler (Pillbug), Dean Palmer (Locust), and Brad Kilburne (Zombie).  
"Heeeyyy, Blob," Locust grinned, patting him on the back, "I'm sure you're not going to eat all that, are you?"  
"You're kidding, right?" Paste raised an eyebrow, "Blob eats everything on his plate."  
"Well, it was worth a try," Locust shrugged, still grinning.  
"Pay attention," Gambit snapped his fingers, "It's your bet, grasshopper."  
"It's Locust," Locust corrected him, "I'll bet two bucks."  
"Wipe that smile off your face," Zombie ordered.  
"I can't," Locust explained, "It only comes off on special occasions and when I'm in pain."  
"I think we can arrange some pain," Pillbug smirked.  
"Just get on with the game," Locust muttered, "Just hearing your voice disgusts me."  
The front door suddenly fell off of its hinges and Dan Rivers (Hammerhead) walked in, followed by Jeff Telton (Photon). Both were carrying large packages.  
"What have we got here?" Pietro was in the room in the blink of an eye.  
"Food," Photon said plainly, setting the packages in the kitchen, "And a stolen TV."  
"Of course it's stolen. It's not like we're made of money," Pietro turned to Hammerhead, "How 'bout you, Sharky?"  
Hammerhead just smiled, revealing his blade-like teeth. He lifted a piece of the package, uncovering a bloody piece of meat.  
"I think I'm going to be sick," Mosquito covered his mouth and left the room in a hurry.  
"If you really have to eat that," Pietro said, indicating Hammerhead's package, "do it somewhere else."  
Photon walked back from the kitchen and placed the front door back on its hinges.  
"What's with this place, anyway?" he asked as Pietro shot from the room and Hammerhead went to enjoy his meal.  
"It's rusty," replied Pyro, the only one left in the room, "And it stinks."  
"Yeah, but why'd we stay here if we could've picked somewhere better?" Photon hadn't expected an answer to his first question.  
"Life is like a can of dried leaves, mate," Pyro stated, "There's nothing wrong with it until someone comes and sets it ablaze."  
Photon shook his head and took the TV to the other room, muttering about Pyro's piece of "wisdom".  
"Hey, hey!" Toad greeted the TV like an old friend, "Nice to see ya!"  
Photon plugged it in, while Toad and Pietro gathered around and Lance put down his book.  
"I got dibs on the remote!" Toad snatched the remote from Photon's hand.  
Photon just grumbled and sat down while Toad began channel surfing.  
"Let's see what's on here," Toad leaned back in his chair, "Hey! Survivor! I haven't seen this for a while! Wait! What happened here? They voted all the cool people off the island! Forget this! Let's watch somethin' else."  
"Pick something and stick with it!" Lance groaned.  
"We'll watch what I wanna watch," Toad gave Lance a superior look, "The Simpsons! Oh, wait! Reruns! What else is on?"  
The other three groaned. Toad continued to flip through the channels, "The Weather Channel, Professional Poker, The Beverly Hillbillies, ooh, what's the late night movie tonight?"  
"Go see what's on the news," Photon instructed.  
"It's only The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I've seen it and none of that stuff could really happen," Toad continued flipping, "Boy Meets World, SpongeBob, Jeopardy, Sesame Street, ah, here we go, the News, the most exciting of all shows!"  
"Cut the sarcasm," Lance ordered.  
"You're the one whose second language is sarcasm," Toad commented.  
"Work on the comebacks, Toad," Pietro suggested.  
"Quiet," Photon made a hand movement to shut them up.  
On the screen, a reporter was standing outside a pub, talking, "...so apparently, last night, there was a bar fight here. We have also acquired footage of this incident from a witness who tried to capture the battle on his digital camera."  
"Wow, great news. A bar fight," Toad said, obviously bored.  
The TV then proceeded to show a balding man and a young black man standing in a bar. There really wasn't a fight on the film because the camera kept flying around. There was a long moment when it focused on one of the windows.  
"Waitaminute, whozat?!" Pietro sat up, abruptly.  
"The long hair, the shiny eye, it's all looking familiar," Toad's eyes widened.  
"I thought he was dead," Lance said, amazed.  
"It's Nucleo!" Photon exclaimed. Enjoy it, did you? Possibly... Ah, but my reviewers!!! Yes, that's right! You four reviewers have inspired me to keep up the 'good' work.  
Blue Raja: Did you hear that? Keep up the good work. The GOOD work!  
Mr. Furious: He's making fun of us.  
Shoveler: No, Roy, he saluted us. That was real.  
(Mystery Men...good movie) No, seriously, guys...if I could be serious. I love you for your support. Farewell for now!  
(asterisk)disappears mysteriously(asterisk) 


	4. Familiar Faces

Here it is! Chapter 3! Not including the prologue, of course. Anyway, this sequel seems a whole lot better than my first story. Which reminds me, I send out a special thanks to my reviewers who are keeping me updating. Oh, yeah, I have a question for Leen713. Just to make sure, have you read the first story? Because the sequel might make a little more sense. I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to, because the first one isn't as good. But, never mind, I'm rambling. Oh, and horsiegirl, I am sorry for the (asterisk) thing.   
  
The students were all sitting in the Meal Room, eating lunch.  
"You need a code name," Kurt said to Erin, "Mine's Nightcrawler."  
"You'd better start thinking of one, too, Chris," Travis warned, and then added mysteriously, "Cause you're next."  
"I got stuck with Flash," Ruben shuddered, "I need a better name."  
"Yeah, I feel your pain," Aaron gave Ruben a pat on the back, "Imagine being named Shift."  
"Ha! I have the superior name!" Shawn stood up and shouted.  
"Sit down before I unleash my fury upon you," Aaron advised him.  
"That's perfect!" Erin exclaimed, "Fury! It's awesome!"  
"Totally," Allen commented.  
"Well, you see," Aaron gave a fake cough of dignity, "That was my plan the whole time. I was hinting at a good code name."  
"Quit while you're ahead, bro," Shawn recommended.  
"I just thought of a good name for you, Chris," Kyle said suddenly, "How about Vicegrip?"  
"Sounds good to me," Chris agreed.  
"Welcome to the club!" Shawn reached out and shook his gloved hand.  
"You're going to scare the guy," Ray snapped.  
"You guys are, like, one of us now," Kitty commented.  
"So, has anyone perceived of the impending solar eclipse?" Frank asked, changing the subject.  
Sarah whispered something in Ruben's ear. Ruben's eyes widened and a large grin spread across his face.  
"Excellent," Ruben said in a Mr. Burns voice.  
"Uh, what's wrong with him?" Erin asked.  
"A lot," Ray replied, receiving a familiar elbow jab from Amara.  
"Eclipse!" Ruben yelled, "It's so much better than Flash!"  
Everyone except Ruben and Sarah realized what the excitement was about, "Oh."  
"Great!" Aaron said sarcastically, "Now I'm the only one with a dumb name."  
"Here," Louis took a pocket dictionary out of his pocket and handed it to Aaron, "Look something up."  
"You have a garden and carry a dictionary around?" Ray asked, amazed.  
"At least my hair's cool," Louis remarked.   
A knock on the door brought Xavier from his office. He opened the door and received a great shock.  
"Professor Charles Xavier, I presume," Nucleo shook the silver hair from his left eye.  
"Nucleo, I, I don't know what to say," Xavier was speechless.  
"May I come in?" Nucleo raised his eyebrows.  
"Oh, yes, certainly," Xavier wheeled himself backward from the doorway, "Follow me."  
Xavier reached his office and turned around to receive another shock. Standing behind Nucleo, was the mutant known as Mayhem and two familiar faces. Lorenzo Romero (Geyser) and Max Crawford.  
"Max! Lorenzo!" Xavier couldn't find words, "What's going on?"  
"Let me explain, Professor," Nucleo sat down, "These fine gentlemen have joined me in my quest. As you may have guessed, I want revenge on Magneto."  
"There is no need to seek vengeance against Magneto..." Xavier started.  
"You know as well as I do that Magneto wanted only to steal my power for his own good!" Nucleo cut him off.  
"But, you really don't need to use other mutants to..." Xavier tried again.  
"Once again, Professor, you know that Magneto has his followers," Nucleo interrupted again, "It is possible that I could take on his Brotherhood alone, but as I have experienced in the past, I cannot take my chances."  
"So why are you here?" Xavier gave up on protesting.  
"For a couple of reasons actually," Nucleo smiled, leaning back in his seat, "For one, I need a place to stay while building up my army, and secondly, just in case any of your occupants don't enjoy it here, they are welcome to join me."  
"You've already taken Max and Lorenzo," Xavier objected, "They both were from this Institute."  
"Ah, but they came to me on their own free will," Nucleo countered, "And I'm not saying that anyone else has to join me, but if they felt uncomfortable here, then they are urged to come with me."  
"Alright, Nucleo," Xavier agreed hesitantly, "I'll find a room for you."   
Ray, Allen, and Kyle were walking outside to the basketball court when Carl rounded the corner.  
"Whoa, dude, who are you?" Allen asked immediately.  
"What's with you new students anyway?" Ray asked before he could give an answer.  
"I'm not a student and I'm not staying here," Carl answered defiantly.  
"Then what are you doing here?" Ray had been holding in his annoyance at everything for a long time.  
"Ray, you're going to get yourself into another fight," Kyle murmured in Ray's ear.  
"Keep out of this!" Ray snapped.  
"So," Carl smirked, "You're trying to challenge me?"  
"Maybe I am," Ray taunted, "Would you like a challenge?"  
"Dude, someone's gonna get busted here," Allen looked around for someone to break up the impending fight.  
"I wouldn't try to break it up," Kyle warned, "Ray's electric shocks wouldn't be a very nice touch."  
"Hear that?" Ray grinned maliciously, "Electric shocks."  
"Maybe we should at least do this outside," Kyle suggested.  
"Electric shocks?" Carl raised his eyebrows, "Check this out."  
Carl's clenched fists began to give off a bluish light. Ray, being familiar with blue electricity, was surprised that when Carl opened his hands, there were two spheres of sapphire electricity glowing in his outstretched palms. As if that weren't enough, Carl tossed them into the air, leaving behind chains of identical voltage, which Carl took hold of in his hands.  
"I hope you're not racist," Carl remarked, swinging the sparking weapons, "Cause then I might have to go a little harder on you."  
Ray looked hesitant for a split second, but any form of uncertainty disappeared in the next instant, for a bolt of electricity was released from his hand. Carl's chained energy simply absorbed the charge.  
"Ok, Allen," Kyle leaned towards Allen, "Here's the plan. I figure this is sort of a friendly fight..."  
"Sort of," Allen repeated.  
"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of," Kyle continued, "So if anyone starts getting overaggressive, you go find someone to help and I'll split them up."  
"Uh, ok," Allen nodded, pondering the plan.  
Ray ducked as Carl swung one of the spheres over his head. Ray backed out of the building into the sunlight. Carl hurled one of the orbs at Ray. Ray took this to an advantage and hit Carl in the leg with another bolt of energy. Carl jumped back and threw the other sphere at Ray. Ray dodged it and looked up to see Carl push his fists together. When he pulled them apart, Ray realized that Carl had connected two of the orbs. Carl began swinging the new weapon, attempting to hit Ray. Ray was only keeping away by mere inches, until he stumbled over a large stone in his path.  
"Allen, go now!" Kyle ordered. Allen ran away down the hallway, while Kyle began his transformation.  
Carl was standing over Ray, when a large, clawed foot stepped in front of him. Following the foot upward, Carl was horrified to see a huge, reptilian creature towering over him. He walked slowly backward until he was in the institute.  
"What's the meaning of this?" Carl whirled around to see Nucleo, followed by Allen, Scott, and Xavier.  
"I was just walking through here, when he..." Carl started.  
"Don't even tell me!" Nucleo waved him away, "The Professor gives us a place to stay and what do you do? You go and pick a fight with one of his students."  
"Actually," Xavier interrupted, "I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Crisp here was the cause of this conflict."  
Ray looked like he had just been told that he was going to be locked in a room with Ruben for the rest of eternity.  
"It's the truth," Carl agreed, "Then some big lizard thing appeared."  
Nucleo looked around, "I don't see anything."  
"That was me," Kyle told him, "I was just breaking up the fight."  
"Well, I don't want any more struggles from you or anyone else," Nucleo said to Carl, "Ah, Professor, could I speak to you for a moment?"  
Xavier stayed behind while everyone else went their ways, "What is it that you need?"  
"I was wondering," Nucleo smiled winningly, "I've heard a bit about your special mutant-locating machine."  
"Cerebro," Xavier corrected him, "What about it?"  
"Well, I know you're giving up a lot by letting me stay here," Nucleo continued smiling, "But would it be possible for you to show me the whereabouts of mutants so that I may find the ones suitable to join me?"  
"I suppose," Xavier sighed, "I just don't see what seeking revenge on Magneto will accomplish."  
"That's alright," Nucleo assured him, "You don't have to."  
  
Packrat sat, perched on top of the grandfather clock in the hallway. It was around midnight. Sniffing, he caught the scent of four approaching figures. He glanced to his right to see the shadow of Nucleo open the front door and beckon the other three mutants to follow him. Packrat cackled as the door closed behind them. He leapt down from the clock and scuttled towards the Professor's office.  
Xavier looked up as Packrat entered his office, "What is it, Brian?"  
"You telled Brine to make sure you knowed when newsome visitors fleed," Packrat smiled proudly, "And they has left us into the murksome dark."  
"Thank you, Brian," Xavier smiled and activated an intercom device, "Scott, instruct your group to begin following Nucleo."  
"We'll inform you of anything we find out, Professor," Cyclops's voice came back through the intercom.  
"Get some rest, Brian," Xavier said to Packrat, "You have done well."  
"Yes," Packrat smiled with delight and rubbed his hands together, "Brine has done well, heh, Brine done well, heh heh heh."  
Xavier watched Packrat exit the room, muttering to himself happily. Xavier then sat back to wait for the news of what exactly Nucleo was up to. It's alright, isn't it? I mean, you don't love it like your own children, but it's good, right? Anyway, review if you want. Don't review if your don't want. Oh, and just in case any of you didn't know, Mr. Burns is a character from the Simpsons. 


	5. The Raptor

The next chapter is here! You know, I really need to thank my reviewers for their support. Thank you, reviewers! Hey, just remember if you have any questions, just ask! Especially if you reviewers want to be singled out and talked to individually. Cool, huh? Well, enjoy the chapter.   
  
Cyclops crept quietly behind the group of four mutants sneaking away into the dark. He motioned for his companions to follow him.  
Logan scowled as he walked silently behind Cyclops. Frankly, he was tired of taking orders from the uptight mutant. He glanced behind him, making sure Ben Flemming could keep up. Ben was no longer a student, but was still fairly young. Logan hoped none of Nucleo's cronies, or Nucleo for that matter, would notice the faint glow behind Ben's dark shades. Behind Ben, Peter Rasputin moved stealthily through the yard, still in his normal form so the moonlight wouldn't reflect off of his metal skin. Bringing up the rear, Tom Fulke took massive, but soundless steps. His huge form made up for his lack of speed. Xavier had ordered that Jean and Storm stay in the institute.  
Nucleo and the other three mutants got into a large van. As soon as the van pulled away, Cyclops began his instructions.  
"Logan, go get the X-Van! We can't lose them, or we'll fail the professor."  
"What a pity that would be," Logan mumbled as he ran to get the vehicle that was used for missions.  
Cyclops checked his watch impatiently as Logan rounded the corner with the X-Van. The X-Men quickly climbed inside and sped off after Nucleo.  
"The radar says he's moving towards the edge of the city," Cyclops informed everyone.  
"I'm perfectly capable of reading the radar," Logan grunted as he watched the road.  
Cyclops ignored him and turned to the back of the van to give instructions, "Streetlights should be off right now, so if needed, you can take care of those, Outlet."  
Ben nodded.  
"Piledriver and Colossus, you will deal with protection in case they find out that we followed them," Cyclops continued.  
Peter and Tom glanced at each other before nodding.  
"And Logan does whatever he wants," Scott grumbled, "because he doesn't listen to what I say anyway."  
Logan smirked triumphantly. He had finally got through to him that he was in charge of himself, not anyone else.  
The van slowed down as Logan caught sight of Nucleo's van parked in an opening in the trees.  
"Looks like they walked from here," Peter guessed.  
"We'll have to keep quiet when we get to the city," Cyclops said, opening the door.  
The five X-Men moved through the trees silently until they came to the edge of the city. In the moonlight, they could make out the shadows of Nucleo and the other three. They seemed to be waiting for something.   
Roy Gunther crawled quickly along the floor of the city's grocery store. Reaching the meat section, he removed a few frozen items from the freezer and continued through the store. These weekly grocery raids had become a part of Roy's survival. He snatched a bundle of fruit and headed towards the restrooms. He burst into the men's restroom and scanned the line of stalls. He swiftly moved to the third stall from the end. The door had been removed as well as the toilet that had once stood there. Instead of replacing it, the store had only put a grate in its place. The 'Out of Order' sign still hung over it. Roy looked around and lifted the grate. He slipped into the floor and replaced the grate behind him. He continued to move through the abandoned pipe until he came to the large opening that led to the sewer. He jumped down from the opening and started down the tunnel. An occasional hole in the road above would cast light on his jet black, reptilian skin. He looked up as he reached the familiar manhole. He easily climbed the wall and lifted the manhole cover. He crawled out and immediately stopped. Someone was waiting for him.   
Nucleo waited patiently, standing a few feet from a nearby manhole. He knew he wouldn't have to wait long. His allies, however, were growing restless. Mayhem repeatedly rubbed his hands together as if he was cold, while Geyser shot looks of suspicion around at everything in sight. Max shuffled his feet impatiently.  
"Ah, don't worry," Nucleo guaranteed, looking at each one of them in turn, "Nucleo, Mayhem, Geyser, and Volcano will soon be joined by the Raptor."  
As if on cue, the manhole cover rose from the street and slid away from the entrance. A scaly, clawed hand appeared over the side of the hole and hoisted a dark creature into the moonlight.   
Roy considered going back into the sewer, but figured the strange people would probably give chase. They were probably armed, too. He decided on the offensive. Crouching, he gave a low, hissing growl, his long tail swaying menacingly. Three of the people took a step back, but one of them stood completely still. Suddenly, the man began to speak.  
"Ah, so you are the Raptor."  
Roy didn't know what to say as moonlight glinted off of something on the man's face.  
"Don't feel threatened," the man spoke again, "I just need to make a request."  
Roy put his food products down on the street and slid his forked tongue in and out of his mouth before he spoke, "What kind of a request?"  
"I am Nucleo," the man said.  
"I ask a question and he introduces himself," Roy thought, confused, "This should be interesting."  
"I and my friends here, like yourself, are mutants."  
Roy breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't had to deal with humans for a long time.  
"I seek revenge," Nucleo told him.  
"Let me guess," Roy broke in, "You want me to help you get revenge on humans for their treatment of you. Am I right? Well, let me tell you something, buddy, I lost a good friend to humans, but I'd rather keep as far away from humans as possible than give them reason to kill us off."  
Nucleo laughed, which gave Roy the shivers, "I don't have anything against humans. I want revenge on a mutant betrayer."  
"Uh," Roy felt a little embarrassed, having expressed his feelings before learning the strange man's intentions.  
"Perhaps you've heard of the man known as Magneto," Nucleo paused, waiting for an answer, "No? Well, I was taken captive by him and he intended to experiment on me. I would seek vengeance myself, but he has an army of his own and I intend to muster enough mutants to fight back. That is why I am here."  
"What do you have to offer?" Roy asked. He wasn't just going to join the guy, risk his life against some experimenting madman, and not get anything out of it.  
"Name your price," Nucleo smiled.  
Roy didn't say anything. Now that he thought about it, he really didn't need much, "I'll join you and name my price later."  
"Excellent," Nucleo's smile widened, "Now if you'll follow me, we can depart to where a friend of mine is conveniently letting us stay."  
"Wait!" Roy hissed and Nucleo turned around, "I need to pick up some stuff at my 'dwelling'."  
"Ah, yes, you're right," Nucleo grinned, "What is home without your personal belongings?"   
Logan watched and listened while holding a long-range tape recorder.  
"Looks like he's just recruitin'. Just like he said."  
Cyclops still looked suspicious, "What if he's plotting against us instead of Magneto?"  
"You got to be kidding," Logan stared at him, "Why're you so paranoid all the time?"  
"If you're not on your toes, you're defenseless," Cyclops said wisely.  
"Cut the insight," Logan raised a hand, "They're coming back."  
"Back to the van," Cyclops instructed.  
The X-Men quickly escaped to the van and got in. Logan started it up and pulled away, heading for Xavier's Institute.  
A short time later, Nucleo, followed by Roy and the other mutants, walked out of the trees and entered their van.  
"Just a quick stop and back to 'headquarters'!" Nucleo informed them.   
Xavier woke from his sleep as he heard the front door open. He was relieved when Cyclops walked into his office, followed by Logan, Outlet, Colossus, and Piledriver.  
"What do you have to report?" Xavier asked.  
"He did what he said he was doing," Logan said, simply, "He got some lizard to join him."  
"Interesting," Xavier smiled, "I must have known Erik too long. I'm starting to become suspicious of everyone."  
"Always stay alert, Professor," Cyclops warned him. Yeah, that was a kind of boring chapter, but you have to lead up to the good stuff if you want a good book...right? Oh, well. I'll leave you with this quote from one of my favorite movies, Mystery Men.  
Blue Raja: If you're going to eat cake...use a fork.  
Shoveler: You might as well...SHOVEL it in.  
Mr. Furious: People who don't close their mouth when they chew make me furious. 


	6. The Danger Room

So here it is! The next chapter! Well, for those of you who like action...here it is...sort of. This is a chapter that just kind of explains some of the mutants' powers a little...yeah, that's right...has nothing to do with the plot. Oh, I was wondering, I don't know if you readers can actually read my story in its tightly packed paragraphs. I mean, you might be making stuff up when you review my story. Nah, you guys would never do that...would you? Let me know if you have trouble reading and I'll do what I can to fix it. Well, anyway, it's an alright chapter so enjoy it as much as you can.

* * *

Neither Nucleo or his team of mutants were present at breakfast the next morning. The late night had tired them all and they were sleeping in. The students, however, were all awake and excited.  
"It's finally Saturday!" Ruben shouted as he sat down next to Sarah with his bowl of cereal, "I didn't think I would make it through this week."  
"For once, I agree with you," Bobby said, taking a bite of a pancake.  
"But guess what," Ray muttered, obviously just to get on everyone's nerves, "Monday's in two days!"  
"Curses!" Ruben exclaimed, clenching his fist dramatically.  
"And even worse," Jubilee moaned, "Mr. Summers is giving us all a test in the Danger Room this afternoon."  
"What's the Danger Room?" Erin asked curiously, "It sounds _'dangerous'_!"  
"Oh," Ruben said overdramatically, "But it is." 

"It's a room where we're trained to use our powers," Rogue explained, "It's not all that bad except when we have to do it on weekends."  
"Hey, like, where's your sister, Steve?" Kitty asked.  
"Oh, she's hanging out with the twins over there," Steve pointed behind him at the table on the other side of the room.

* * *

Melanie was indeed with Aaron and Shawn on the other side of the room. The twins had mysteriously found out about the previous night's events and were pestering the table's occupants.  
"We know what you were up to last night," Shawn grinned, pleased with himself.  
"You can't hide it from us," Aaron told them as Scott groaned.  
"We're here for the details," Shawn pulled small notepad from his pocket, "Do you have a pencil, Aaron?"  
"Certainly," Aaron smiled at Xavier as he handed his brother the pencil.  
"Please, begin," Shawn raised his eyebrows.  
Xavier just smiled, while Scott mumbled something and continued eating. Tom, as usual, didn't say anything. Logan glared at them as he took a bite of his toast.  
"We weren't there," Jean shrugged, referring to her and Storm.  
Ben and Peter got up and began to walk away.  
Aaron let out a war cry, "Aaaah! They're trying to escape!"  
At this, Ben and Peter broke into a run. Shawn hit Aaron in the head with his notepad and Aaron morphed into an ostrich. Shawn and Melanie got on and Aaron took off after the two mutants.  
"Why don't they put that much effort into their schoolwork?" Scott shook his head.

* * *

That afternoon, the students were waiting in line for their turn in the Danger Room. They were to be put in groups of three and sent in group by group. The door to the Danger Room slid open and Scott's voice echoed throughout the room.  
"Roberto, Steve, and Jubilee may enter the Danger Room. Everyone else report to the Viewing Room."  
The three chosen students walked into the Danger Room as the others headed for their destination.  
  
Scott activated the computer in front of him. The other X-Men were standing around him while the other students filed in from the side door. 

"Please enter program that you wish to use," the computer spoke as the words appeared on the screen.  
Scott quickly typed his reply: Combination: Roberto DaCosta/Jubilation Lee/Melanie Seaton.  
They hadn't had time to give Steve his own separate program, but as his sister had the same power, they used the same program.  
"Preparing to initiate sequence," the computer began loading the program.  
Xavier gestured for Erin and Chris to move up beside him so that they had a better view of the room.  
"If you don't feel you want to try today, you are permitted to simply watch," Xavier told them.  
"Get ready," Scott spoke into a microphone and his voice reverberated around the Danger Room.  
  
The three students took their positions as the machines roared to life. Immediately, a row of photon guns moved outward from around the walls. Jubilee took aim carefully as the weapons began focusing on their enemies. One of the guns exploded colorfully as Jubilee hit it with a flickering beam. Roberto began using the bright ceiling lights to his advantage and his body began glowing. Jubilee continued to destroy the artillery on the wall, while a series of robotic creatures emerged from the middle of the floor. Roberto tackled one to the ground and disabled it instantly. Jumping up, he ripped the arm from another and proceeded to slam the limb into its owner. With all his focus involved in destroying his attacker, he failed to notice another mechanical being approaching him.  
Steve glanced around and spotted the unnoticed assailant. His body began to shrink as it formed a glowing, blue mist. Instead of using the ears as an entrance, the mist drifted into the android's spinal area. The motorized enemy stopped in its tracks. Instead, it turned towards a group of its fellow machines. A set of blades swiveled out from the possessed robot's hands and arms. It then lashed out and short-circuited its group of opponents relatively quickly.  
Jubilee, feeling a little trigger happy, was blasting every life- threatening object in sight, excluding her fellow students. Except that she couldn't find one of her fellow students. She winced with guilt as she noticed a blue mist exit a fallen android and morphed back into Steve, who looked like he was in some pain. Jubilee began to run over to see if he was alright when a huge column of the wall flew right in front of her, colliding with the other half of the room. When she tried to take a step back, another column hurtled towards her. From nowhere, Roberto stepped in front of her and crushed the wall as it rushed headlong into his fists.  
After that, the Danger Room began to shut down. Jubilee sighed as she walked towards Steve.  
"Sorry, I didn't know you were possessing that robot," Jubilee apologized, "Are you ok?"  
"Yeah, I'll be alright," Steve stood up slowly and followed her and Roberto out of the Danger Room.  
  
Scott turned around and looked at the students, "Amara, Frank, and Ruben, you're next."  
The three chosen students entered the Danger Room while Scott changed the program combination. Within moments, the room began moving again. Immediately, a field of long spikes began covering the floor.  
Amara's body became encased in flame. Any spikes that had come close to her were torched instantly as Amara began hurling fireballs at them.  
Frank on the other hand, made a sound like he was clearing his throat and started spewing a caustic substance from his mouth which burned through the spikes surrounding him. Most of the spikes were eventually eliminated, but were replaced with spinning circular saws with sensors so that they could follow the students.  
Ruben stared with horror at one of the oncoming saws. He quickly lifted his hand in front of his face. A bright light expanded swiftly from his hand. The saw's sensor was instantaneously overloaded with the light energy and flew itself into a wall, spraying the room with debris.  
The saws continued to be scorched, blinded, and burned through until they were all reduced to a few pieces of scrap metal. The students didn't have time to catch their breaths, however, because a large amount of mechanical arms began sprouting from the floor and walls.  
Amara started throwing fireballs again, leaving behind smoking cinders of what was left of the arms. Behind her a sneaky arm clamped around her and lifted her into the air.  
Frank spit on an attacking arm and watched as it dissolved. He turned around quickly and threw his arms up against a particularly large arm. Spotting a wire, he spat a well-aimed ball of saliva at his foe. The wire split instantly and the arm collapsed to the floor. Frank now noticed Amara dangling in an arm's grasp, high over the floor.  
Ruben ducked as an arm lunged for him. He turned around and began running after it. He wondered what effect light would have on it.  
"Come back, you coward of an arm!" he yelled, as if the arm would turn around and come back to him.  
Above him, Amara released a wave of fire melting the arm holding her. Gravity then took effect and she plummeted towards the ground.  
Ruben held up his hand, ready to surprise the arm with a burst of light energy. Unexpectedly, Ruben suddenly found himself falling towards the floor as Amara landed on top of him. Ruben's astonishment grew when a sphere of light flew from his outstretched hand and landed near the arm. A few seconds later, the sphere expanded filling the room with its luminosity.  
  
After Scott uncovered his face from the sudden flash of brilliance, he shut the Danger Room down again. Moments later, Ruben burst into the room, followed by Frank and an apologetic Amara.  
"Professor!" Ruben stammered, "What was that ball of light?"  
"Calm down, Ruben," Xavier couldn't help but smile, "It seems that your power has developed in such a way that you can now use those 'balls of light' to your advantage."  
Ruben stood bewildered for a moment, "Cool."  
"Kurt, Aaron, and..." Scott began, but was cut off.  
"Ooh, me! Me!" Erin jumped up and down, "I want to try! It looks so cool!"  
"Ok," Scott shrugged, "But it will take a little longer to start up and I'll need to ask you some questions."  
"Ok," Erin agreed, as Kurt and Aaron headed for the Danger Room.  
"First, your full name," Scott instructed.  
"Erin McNevin, do I really have to give you my middle name?" she replied.  
"No," Scott typed in her name and moved on to the next question, "What is your power?"  
"Uh, I can't really explain it," she said sheepishly, "I can show you though."  
Scott flinched slightly as she approached him, almost as if she would use her power on him. He relaxed a little as she created a pink orb in her hand.  
"It may look harmless," Erin warned, but it's pretty dangerous, depending on what mood I'm in."  
"Um, ok," Scott began typing again, "Last question, have you ever had any previous training in battle?"  
Erin seemed to grin a little, "Aye."  
"Ok, I can fill out the rest of this myself," Scott told her and she left to go to the Danger Room.  
He filled out the rest of the information and started up the Danger Room again.  
  
The three students all watched as large hammers began pounding the floor. Kurt teleported around the room looking for wires to disengage the hammers while Aaron transformed into a huge elephant and tore one of the hammers from the wall.  
Erin watched all this with amazement, never knowing how diverse mutant powers could be. Her thoughts were interrupted when a hammer slammed down a foot from her, making her jump. She smiled, her embarrassment disappearing just as quick as it had come. She conjured two pink globes and fired them at the violent hammer. The innocent looking orbs collided with the hammer, knocking it from the wall. Erin looked around for another as the disabled hammer landed with a crash. Raising her arms high in the air, she created a cluster of pink bubbles above her and let them fly a moment later. An unsuspecting hammer was then pelted to extermination as Erin held out her hands to control her creations.  
As the hammers began to diminish, razor-firing guns began to spring from the floor. Kurt teleported as a sharp disk hurtled towards him. The firearm didn't have a chance as Kurt reappeared and gave the device a hard kick, destroying it. The other pieces of artillery began focusing on Kurt and the other two students.  
Aaron's elephant form shrunk to form an anaconda and began slithering towards the weaponry, avoiding the jagged projectiles. Reaching the closest gun, he wrapped his body around the threat and crushed the machinery until it was only a heap of damaged metal.  
Erin deflected the oncoming blades with her multitude of orbs, while destroying the hazards at the same time. It wasn't long before the Danger Room slowed down once again.  
  
"Kitty, Kyle, and Sarah," Scott announced, "You're next."  
The three exited the room as Kurt, Aaron, and Erin reentered the room.  
"Wow, that was great," Erin declared while Kurt wiped sweat from his forehead.  
"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Xavier smiled, "There are a few rules, however. No one is allowed to use the Danger Room without a teacher's supervision and only a teacher is to operate the computer."  
"Ok," Erin agreed, "What's everyone's power?"  
"Well, we can actually bring up a list on the monitor if you wish," Xavier said as he wheeled himself next to Scott, who began typing and the list appeared.  
"Wow," Erin said, transfixed to the screen, "I never knew there were this many kinds of powers."  
She looked through the window into the Danger Room, where Sarah had just burned a robotic insect with a bright, green beam. The insect had just phased through Kitty after being attacked by a beastly reptile, which was Kyle.  
"And there are many more powers than this," Xavier stated, "Ah, it seems Nucleo and his associates have decided to get up. Perhaps we will save the rest of the Danger Room trials for tomorrow."  
With that, Scott shut down the Danger Room completely and dismissed the students.  
  
Sarah followed Kitty and Kyle from the Danger Room and walked down the hall towards the Meal Room for dinner. The other students had already been dismissed and were there already. Turning a corner, she found Ruben waiting for her.  
"Hi!" he said cheerfully, "Ready for lunch?"  
Sarah opened her mouth to answer, but someone caught her eye at the other end of the hallway. Her eyes widened in amazement as a black lizard crawled down the hallway.  
"Roy?" she said audibly.  
"Huh?" Ruben stared at Sarah for a moment and then turned around, "Yikes!"  
The lizard had heard Sarah and had stopped in its tracks. A smile of recognition crossed Roy's face as he spoke, "Well, if it isn't my ticket to freedom."  
Ruben scratched his head as Sarah and the lizard named Roy walked towards each other.  
"How've you been?" Roy asked, standing up on his legs.  
"I've been great," Sarah smiled, "Where's Carlos and Bludgeon?"  
"Oy, it's a long story," Roy shook his head, "I can spread details over dinner."  
  
Ruben shrugged and followed the two old friends into the Meal Room for dinner.

* * *

Ooh...mysterious past acquaintances...doncha just love those? Anyway, I probably won't be addressing how Sarah and Roy know each other in this book. I am, however, considering creating individual stories on my original characters after I'm through with this book. And THAT, my friends...and foes...is how you'll find out about Sarah and Roy's past. Oh, and reviewers...I just gotta say...I love you guys. 


	7. Magneto's Plan

Ok, you're all going to hate me for this...but this is the last chapter for the next 2 weeks...and well, this is a short chapter. No, no, please don't throw your rotten vegetables. I will be back. Just try to hold out until then. You can do it. Ah, well...enjoy this incredibly short chapter.

* * *

"I'm tellin' you man, it was him," Toad protested to Magneto, "Right there in black an' white."  
"It was a color TV, you moron," Pietro scowled.  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Toad continued, "That's besides the point."  
"It's the truth, boss," Photon, who had taken to calling Magneto "boss", stepped up behind the other two mutants, "He was watching a bar fight, for some reason."  
"Very interesting," Magneto said, in thought, "Why would Nucleo be watching bar fights?"  
"Maybe he's looking for someone," Lance suggested, standing next to Photon.  
"Revenge," Magneto said suddenly, "He's looking for revenge."  
"Revenge?" Paste had just entered the room, followed by the rest of the Brotherhood, "Who, what, where, when, and why?"  
"I assume none of _them_ know anything about this," Magneto stared at the assembly of mutants.  
"I'll fill them in," Pietro offered, and before anyone could protest he began, "A few days ago we were watching the news on the new TV Photon stole for us and while we were watching we saw a thing on the news about a bar fight which wasn't that interesting but then the camera pointed at the window and we saw Nucleo out there."  
There was a good thirty seconds in which Pietro looked around proudly and everyone else gazed at him, wondering how he didn't have to take a breath throughout the sentence.  
"So, uh, Nucleo wants revenge?" Paste asked again, "For what?"  
"He wants revenge on us," Magneto announced, "He wants to get back at us for trying to experiment on him."  
"Well, technically, you were the one who wanted to experi..." Paste began, but stopped when Magneto narrowed his eyes at him, "...imewazibboffle."  
"So, uh, why was he at a bar fight?" Zombie said hesitantly.  
"He is most likely building an army to strike back at us," Magneto replied, "And with the decrease in our numbers, we may have to search out a few more participants."  
"When will we be going?" Gambit asked, holding an ace of spades between his fingers.  
"Very soon," Magneto answered immediately, "First, we must search out our subjects and we'll begin to do that tomorrow."  
"Finally, something to do," Locust said, grinning, "I can't wait."  
"I will return in the morning to come and get you," Magneto told them and then left the house.  
"We got some training to do, mes amis," Gambit turned to the rest of the Brotherhood, "Let's get started, shall we?"  
"It's gonna be a long night," Toad moaned to Pietro.

* * *

So...how long did that take you? Two minutes, right? Oh, you...yeah, you with the bowl of pasta on your head...ONE MINUTE?! You are truly incredible! You should be rewarded. As should the rest of my reviewers. You guys are great. AHA! I shall leave you with some wisdom before I leave. _A rolling stone gathers no moss._ Yes, I am sure you have heard that one before. Well, anyway, I'm going to roll away now so I don't gather any moss on me. That would be gross.


	8. Research

I'm finally back! pauses to listen for cheering hears none Ok...anyway, I'm sure that those of you who are keeping up with this story (where would I be without you?) will be pleased that another chapter is here! So stop reading this obstruction to the story and read away!!!

* * *

Ruben sat, quietly, eating, while listening to the big, black lizard's story. He had been completely confused until he had worked out that Roy must have been a friend of Sarah's.  
"Unfortunately, Bludgeon was killed when we were escaping," Roy was still explaining things, "And I recently read in a newspaper that Carlos was locked up somewhere for some crime. Not surprising, though."  
"I've got it," Ruben announced, "You guys are cousins who were sailing on a ship, when one of you fell overboard. The other of you, being afraid of water in any form, could only yell for help. But, when you realized that the ship was empty, you had to sail the ship to shore. And you guys haven't seen each other until now."  
"Weren't you listening, Ruben?" Sarah asked him, "Roy was just telling the story."  
"Curses! I missed it!" Ruben said, dramatically.  
"Whoa, dude, how could the ship be empty?" Allen asked, referring to Ruben's explanation, "I mean, how could the ship sail all by itself?"  
"Because," Ruben turned to him, "A colony of ocean gnomes were hired to move the ship by swimming under it. But, after a while, they got chased away by a giant, deadly sea mushroom, called the Toadstool Fish. That's when they realized the ship was empty."  
"Oh, ok," Allen sat back to think about Ruben's answer.  
Nucleo walked into the room and spotted Roy, "Ah, Raptor, are you ready to go and find another comrade tonight?"  
"Uh, sure," Roy answered, not exactly excited.  
"Good, I'll be looking for you before we leave," Nucleo said and left the room.  
As soon as he was out of the room, Aaron and Shawn, who had overheard, crept up behind the group.  
"How would you like to know exactly what he's up to?" Aaron said mysteriously.  
"Huh? What?" Ruben spun around, startled by their sudden entrance.  
"He wants to know if you need us to do a little, uh, research." Shawn explained.  
"Research what?" Roy asked them.  
"Ah, Shawn, our reptilian friend here doesn't know our ways," Aaron leaned toward his brother, "Perhaps we should explain."  
"Right, you see, Roger..." Shawn started.  
"It's Roy," Shawn was immediately corrected.  
"Yeah, yeah, that's what I said," Shawn waved away his mistake, "You see, my brother and I are what you could call, stealthy, mysterious, tricky, stuff like that. We have gotten away with quite a few tricks and well, we have also not gotten away with some stuff, but that doesn't matter."  
"I'll take it from here, bro," Aaron cut him off, "We are offering to do a little 'check stuff out' mission and see what your boss, A-Bomb is up to. Whaddayasay?"  
"If you want," Roy shrugged, "But I don't think he'll be all that happy to know what your doing."  
"Like we said," Shawn raised an eyebrow, "He won't know what we're doing."

* * *

The twins had discovered that Nucleo was planning on leaving near midnight, so around ten o'clock, they crept through the halls to Nucleo's room. Reaching the door, they nodded to each other and Aaron shrunk down to the form of a cricket. Shawn lowered his ear to the bottom of the door. He heard his brother's chirping on the other side.  
"Good, the coast is clear," Shawn said to himself and waited for Aaron to open the door.  
The door opened silently and Shawn entered, immediately looking around the room.  
"I'll take this side," Aaron whispered, "You can take that side."  
Shawn nodded as Aaron opened a closet and began to sift through the objects inside. Shawn approached a set of drawers in the corner. He opened the top drawer and lifted a few papers from it. Scanning the pages, Shawn discovered that they were part of a document that had been printed from a computer. Shawn almost put it back in the drawer when one of the sentences caught his eye.  
"Aaron, come here," Shawn quietly beckoned his brother, "Look at this."  
"It looks like research to me," Aaron commented, but then turned serious when he started reading, "Are you getting this, bro? 'Extreme physical abnormalities thought to have been caused by experimentation; others believe they could be mutations' Check out the pictures."  
The twins studied the photos taken of grotesque beings. Most of the pictures were low quality, but a few were quite clear. One showed a creature with a human-looking head, but with spidery legs, a blade-like tail, and glowing eyes. Another portrayed a group of scientists surrounding what looked like a massive disco ball. When the twins took a closer look, they realized the sparkling sphere was the shell of some creature in which its lower jaw and legs could be seen.  
"Hey, look," Shawn pointed to something written at the bottom of the page, "It's a web site, www . mutationdatabase . org."  
"We'll have to check it out," Aaron said quietly, "What else have we got?"  
Shawn put the papers back in the drawer and opened the second drawer. He removed what looked like a short grocery list and began to read it.  
"It looks like a list of mutants he's going after," Aaron spoke his opinion, "Raptor, Blacksmith, Massacre."  
"Well, Raptor's that lizard guy we talked to," Shawn stated, "And I don't know who the other ones are."  
"Wait," Aaron pointed to the last name on the list, "Isn't Massacre the knife guy who works for Magneto?"  
"I think so," Shawn scratched his head, "We should go and write this down. We've got enough info."  
"Let's go," Aaron followed his brother to the door, "I'll lock the door."  
Shawn waited a moment for the cricket to hop back under the door. The twins moved quietly back to their room.

* * *

Cool, huh? I'm glad you enjoyed it...unless you didn't. Well, there is really nothing left to say...oh, except that www . mutationdatabase . org isn't actually a website...I looked it up just to be sure. SO DON'T GO THERE!!!! Well...you can if you want...it's just a waste of time. Well, I'll try to update soon. 


	9. Blacksmith

Hiya, folks! Ok, this is probably another short chapter, but there's nothing I can do about it...ok, so maybe there is...but the story is better this way. Anyway, here's another new original character to add to the list...don't get relieved, there's still more to come. Well, enjoy this chapter as much as you possibly can.

* * *

  
  
Mike Steele tore down the highway on his Harley. He maneuvered his motorcycle between the other cars with practiced ease. He reached a wide stretch of road with only a few cars in the right lane. The left lane was completely clear. Leaning back, Mike put his motorcycle into a wheelie and accelerated quickly.  
  
Mike's sharp eyes spotted the turn signal of the battered pickup just in time. He swerved around the vehicle unscathed. He hated when cars did that. Pressing his fingers together, he created a nail the size of his thumb. He flicked his wrist back, releasing the pointed projectile. The nail pierced the pickup's tire and the driver was forced to pull over.  
  
Mike smiled. Being a mutant had its advantages. Especially being able to create metal from the atmosphere.  
  
Mike had the typical look of a biker. He had a long beard, was fairly muscular, and wore sunglasses, a bandana, and a leather coat. Mike checked his fuel meter. It was nearing empty. He continued on until he reached the nearest exit.  
  
Minutes later, Mike pulled into a gas station. Dismounting, he noticed his back wheel was looking rather worn out. He quickly refueled his precious motorcycle and began to search the town for a mechanic. When he finally found one, he approached a pair of legs sticking out from under a car.  
  
"Hey!" Mike shouted. There was a sudden clunk and a shriek of frustration as the man under the car hit his head.  
  
"What do you want?" the bony man pulled himself out from under the car, rubbing his head. He was aging and had only small wisps of white hair.  
  
"Are you the mechanic here?" Mike asked, slightly impatient.  
  
"This is Rick's Garage ain't it?" the man's western accent made his annoyance easier to notice, "Read the name tag!"  
  
Mike glanced at the man's name tag. Sure enough, the name Rick was clearly printed on it.  
  
"So what do you want?" Rick asked, putting his hands on his hips.  
  
"You need to replace a wheel on my Harley," Mike ordered, "And as soon as possible."  
  
"Well, who died and put you in charge?" Rick asked sarcastically, "I'll have to keep it overnight. I have a few other appointments. You can come back tomorrow for it."  
  
"I don't leave until the job's done," Mike told him.  
  
"Suit yourself," Rick scowled, "but there's nowhere to sleep 'round here except my office and I ain't lettin' you in there."  
  
"I don't need to sleep," Mike insisted.  
  
"Whatever you say," Rick wheeled the motorcycle into his garage while Mike sat down on a bench outside.

* * *

Nucleo's van moved quickly down the dark road. Nucleo sat in the passenger seat explaining his plan. Lorenzo was in the driver's seat, obviously driving. Max, Carl, and Roy sat in the back seats, listening to Nucleo.  
  
"Only use force if necessary," Nucleo finished.  
  
"Estamos casi allí," Lorenzo said.  
  
"What?" Nucleo turned to him, "Speak in English."  
  
"We're almost there," Lorenzo said, slightly irritated.  
  
"Good," Nucleo smiled, "I hope everyone's ready."

* * *

Mike was just dozing off when a van pulled up to the garage. He watched as five men got out of the van and began to walk towards him. At least, four of them looked like men. One of the forms was slightly stooped and had a lizard-like form to it. Mike concealed his surprise when the group stopped in front of him.  
  
"Good evening," said the figure closest to him.  
  
"Uh, hey," Mike couldn't recognize the group as anyone he knew. Maybe it was that pickup driver that he forced to pull over.  
  
"Allow me to introduce myself," the figure said, "I am Nucleo. I, like yourself, am a mutant."  
  
"Not so loud," Mike hissed, "That guy in there doesn't know I'm a mutant!"  
  
"There's nothing to be ashamed of," Nucleo assured him, "Mutants should be treated with respect. Just like any other human being."  
  
One of the figures behind Nucleo cleared their throat.  
  
"Ah, yes," Nucleo shook his head, "I'm getting off track. You have been chosen to join me in my quest."  
  
"Quest?" Mike wondered if this was some kind of joke.  
  
"Yes," Nucleo nodded, light reflecting off of his glass eye, "I want revenge. Revenge on a traitor to the mutant race. Unfortunately, he has an army of his own. That's what you are for. Especially you."  
  
"Why especially me?" Mike leaned back. He wanted answers.  
  
"I need you for only his army. The leader of this army can manipulate metal. You, with your metal-making abilities, would be useless against him. I need you to fight his army." Nucleo explained, making things perfectly clear.  
  
"Alright, so what if I do join you?" Mike wasn't much for sticking his neck out for others. He wanted something for himself, "What's in it for me?"  
  
"Name your price," Nucleo smiled in the dark.  
  
Mike paused. The guy was willing to let him choose a price. This was a deal he couldn't pass up.  
  
"Bills," Mike said, "If you pay my mechanical and gas bills for my bike until this job is over, then it's a deal."  
  
"Welcome to the team," Nucleo extended his hand.  
  
Mike took it and shook.  
  
Nucleo straightened up again, "Now if you'll follow me, we'll return to the van."  
  
"I don't leave without my bike," Mike insisted.  
  
"How long is that gonna take?" asked another figure.  
  
"Mechanic said he'd have to keep it overnight," Mike told them, "Said he has other appointments."  
  
In the dark, Mike could see Nucleo smile.  
  
"Raptor," Nucleo turned to the lizard figure, "Why don't you give our mechanic a little visit and have him work on Blacksmith's bike now."  
  
Mike assumed Nucleo was referring to him when he said Blacksmith.  
  
Raptor crept into the garage. A few moments later, Raptor returned with a smile on his face, "He took a little scare and started working on it right away."  
  
Ten minutes later, Mike's bike was ready to go. Mike mounted it and started it up.  
  
"Just follow the van," Nucleo instructed him.  
  
As the vehicles pulled away, Rick poked his head out of the door, checking if they were gone. He shivered as he closed and locked the door. Mutants gave him the creeps.

* * *

Yup, that's right, done already. You know, it just dawned on me...there's two new characters in this chapter...RICK!!!! Remember? Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about him anymore. What's that you say? Update soon? I will update as my spirit sees fit. It can be stubborn at times. Farewell! Up, up, and AWAAAAAAAY!!!! 


	10. The Website

I know you're all excited because I posted this chapter so early, but it's really an expiriment to find out why _my_ story aquires indents and others do not. I am finding out this minute...perhaps not _this_ minute, but I am finding out at a minute sometime. Well, enjoy your early chapter.

* * *

Travis woke up to a knock on the door. Climbing down from the top bunk, he made his way to the door, attempting to smooth down his hair. He opened it to see Aaron and Shawn standing there calmly.

"What do you want?" Travis rubbed his eyes, "It's not even breakfast time yet."

"We want to come in," Shawn told him and walked into the room, followed by Aaron.

Travis mumbled something and crawled back into his bed. Aaron and Shawn approached the bed underneath.

"Franky," Aaron spoke into Frank's ear softly, "Wake up, Franky."

The sound of Aaron's voice not only woke Frank, but Cory and Chris, who had taken Max's place, also woke up.

"What purpose are you guys fulfilling by invading our sleeping quarters so early?" Frank groaned.

"Your humunginormous words have no effect on _us_, space fiend!" Aaron said, a little overdramatically.

"Where'd that come from, bro?" Shawn scratched his head, "Anyway, we need to borrow your laptop."

"For what purpose?" Frank pressed his face into his pillow.

Aaron and Shawn both looked at each other and smiled, "None of your...BEESWAX!"

"Ooh!" Cory moaned, "I hate when people say that."

"Yeah, sure," Frank was too tired to protest, "It's beneath my sleeping quarters. Return it to this specific location when you're no longer in requirement of it."

Shawn pulled the laptop from under the bed and followed Aaron from the room with a little wave.

When they reached their room, they crept in quietly.

"Shh," Shawn put a finger to his lips, "We don't want to wake Kyle and Roberto."

"Even though we just woke up another whole room," Aaron smiled and plugged in the laptop.

"What was that site?" Shawn clicked on the internet shortcut.

"Something like www . mutationdatabase . org," Aaron said quietly.

Shawn typed it in and the site popped up.

"Looks pretty mysterious and secretive to me," Aaron commented, "Go to that recent news thing."

Shawn clicked on Recent News. A list of entries popped up.

"Start at the bottom," Aaron instructed.

"I'll start where I wanna," Shawn pouted, but scrolled down to the bottom where the least recent entries were.

The first few articles were nothing but a bunch of deals made by the organization. The next two were written in different languages, none of which the twins could decipher. The next article caught their attention.

"Look," Shawn ordered.

"I'm looking," Aaron said, irritably, "What, did you think I was watching our roommates snooze?"

"You never know with the way you think," Shawn commented and began to read, "It says...,"

"I know what it says!" Aaron said a little over a whisper.

"Shh!" Shawn hissed.

Getting to the point, the article stated:

_After our recent obtainment of what we call the Larva, _(There was a nearby picture of a hideous black beetle with a shiny, dark-reddish head. The slightly bloated head was accompanied by a pair of beady eyes which were hard to see.) _which we believe to be a mutant, we examined the DNA of the specimen. After receiving the results, we recruited a volunteer test subject _(there wasn't a supplementary photo, but Aaron made a comment about 'volunteer')_ and conducted a few experiments. Nothing has resulted so far in our findings. We hope that a great discovery will be made._

"Well, my IQ just dropped a good sixty notches," Aaron muttered, "How 'bout you?"

"Sixty-two," Shawn grinned, "What else do we have in this 'legal' website?"

The twins scrolled through a plethora of articles, none of which provided any useful information. One article did state that the 'volunteer' test subject had mutated horribly and had been locked away for everyone's safety. There was no picture of this mutation.

"My interest in this site has long since moved to Zimbabwe and is living happily with twelve kids," Aaron said with a yawn, "Anything else?"

"Here's something relatively interesting," Shawn began reading another article, "Here, check it out."

_Two days ago, the crimes of breaking-and-entering, vandalism, assault, and theft were committed here in our laboratory._("Like they haven't committed any crimes themselves,"—Aaron)_ We believe the criminals responsible for this disaster are or working for mutants._("Everything gets blamed on us mutants!"—Aaron) _Our guards were unable to provide any protection due to the phenomenal immobilizing of their eyesight._("Frank's the only person who could actually read this, with all these big words and stuff,"—Aaron)("Shut up, Aaron,"—Shawn) _When the disaster was over, we discovered that both the Larva and our volunteer test subject had disappeared, as well as one of our other discoveries, the Gemstone(see our experiment log). Although there were no witnesses to the attack, we were able to capture the event on our numerous security cameras. Click on the link below to view what we successfully taped._

Shawn clicked on the link. The twins found themselves looking at a series of different screens. Two screens were filming the outside of the building. The others were watching the inside hallways and lab rooms. The first outside screen was obviously placed on the roof. It was completely normal except for what looked like a large, furry bird was perched a little ways from the camera. The second outside camera was hidden near the ground. The twins stared at the large, iron fence on the screen.

"Wow, look at all that footage," Aaron's voice was dripping with sarcasm, "These guys really know how to catch a criminal in action."

"This footage is probably from Burger King at night, anyway," Shawn commented, still watching the action-less scene, "I'm surprised it's in color."

The twins abruptly became silent as a hole began to form in the fence. They squinted as a head chewed through the fence. Two arms appeared and pulled the rest of the body into the area.

"Looks human to **_me_**," Shawn shrugged.

The figure stepped into the moonlight. It was a black-clad male who looked in his late twenties. He was slightly shorter than average and wore a black knit cap over his dark, curly hair which hung a little lower than his ears.

After looking around, the criminal took a look through the hole in the fence and made a beckoning movement with his hand. A moment later, three more figures came through the hole in the fence. Actually, only two figures came through the hole. The third brought down the entire fence.

The first and second figure entered the moonlight. The first figure was crouching, looking away from the camera. He had extremely pale skin and a long, dark ponytail hanging from the back of his head. He had large hands with tiny claws and as he turned towards the camera, the twins glimpsed his gleaming, red eyes.

The second figure looked perfectly normal.

"Do you think that's a human?" Shawn asked, "Maybe he hired those mutants or something."

"We'll see," Aaron just watched the monitor, "Now...we watch."

The third figure was huge. It was easily as tall as a one story house. Its features weren't distinguishable in the dark, but it resembled a massive chunk of rock. When it walked into the moonlight, it blocked it out from the other figures.

"Hey, wait!" Aaron exclaimed quietly, "Where'd that one guy go?"

When the gigantic being had blocked the moonlight, the crouching, red-eyed mutant had simply vanished.

"Invisibility, Aaron," Shawn tapped his brother's head, "Camouflage. My specialty."

The visible figures walked into a doorway and disappeared from the screen.

"Time to switch to another camera," Shawn pressed a few buttons and another camera screen appeared, this time from an inner location.

The only form of life was a group of five guards. They were standing around, obviously bored out of their minds. It wasn't long before they were confronted by the normal-looking man from outside. The other beings were nowhere to be seen. The guards were instantly alert. One of the guards began to speak to the man. Unfortunately, the cameras hadn't acquired any form of sound, so the conversation was lost.

"That's some high quality equipment there," Aaron said, still in sarcastic mode, "Even better than surround sound."

The guard shook his head. The criminal turned around to walk away. Suddenly, he spun around and pointed his hand at the guards. The guards were obviously stunned. Two rubbed their eyes, as if they couldn't see. Two more began to walk into things. The last one fell to his knees and began crawling around, looking for an exit.

"Guess he _is_ a mutant," Shawn said, mainly to himself.

The mutant continued down the hall, past the guards. He was followed by the fence-eating mutant. One of the guards began to recover from the strange attack. He was knocked off his feet again by something unseen in the dark. The guard reached for his pistol, but his hand began to bleed and he clutched it in pain. At that moment, the huge mountain of a mutant lumbered through the hallway, shoulders grinding against the wall. The screen turned to static as the mutant's enormous finger crushed the camera into the wall.

"They sure get around," Aaron remarked.

Shawn sighed his agreement and switched to another camera. The twins jumped a good foot off the bed. This movement was accompanied by shout of surprise and sudden fright.

The chosen camera screen had appeared and the twins had found themselves staring into a pair of blood red eyes.

"Tricky little blighter," Shawn said, catching his breath.

"I hate mutants," Aaron said, a little irritated from his unexpected scare, "Wait, what am I saying?"

"What are you guys doing?" Roberto seemed a little more irritated than Aaron.

"What's all the shouting about?" Kyle grumbled sleepily.

"We're, uh, nothing," Shawn said innocently.

"You know that never works," Roberto yawned.

"We're checking our Email," Aaron said with what he thought to be a convincing face.

"What's so scary about Email?" Kyle asked, accompanied by a 'you're not getting away with this one' look.

"Oh, ok," Shawn hung his head, "We're looking at a website."

"Wait, Shawn!" Aaron slapped his forehead dramatically, "Rewind that a little bit! The eyes disappeared."

"Oh, right!" Shawn quickly tapped another few keys, "Here we go."

"What are you guys watching?" Roberto began to climb down from his bed.

"Muppets in Space," Aaron said without looking up, "Go back to bed."

"No," Roberto walked over to them, "You've gotten my attention."

"We always seem to do that," Shawn said, defeated.

"Make room," Kyle squeezed in between the twins, "I want to see."

Roberto and Kyle became quiet while the video clip continued.

The eyes vanished and the screen was filled with static once more. Shawn quickly brought up another camera screen and the four continued to watch. This camera was in what looked like the main laboratory.

The normal-looking mutant was standing in the middle of the room pointing to various places, obviously giving directions. The fence-eating mutant walked towards a metal door and tried to punch a combination into the keypad. He obviously failed because a little red light went off next to the door and the mutant shook his head. That didn't stop him for long, however, he was immediately chewing through the door as if it were a giant sandwich. The pale, red-eyed mutant suddenly appeared and said something to the normal-looking mutant. The huge mutant trudged into the room and stopped beside the door that was now halfway eaten. A few moments later the door was completely gone. The huge mutant followed the fence/door-eating mutant into the room(which had no camera).

"Makes me hungry," Aaron said.(The twins then adopted nicknames for the criminals: normal-looking mutant = Eyeball Killer, fence/door eating mutant = Munchie, pale, red-eyed mutant = Muffin(no reason), huge mutant = Molehill.)

Muffin had disappeared once again. Munchie and Molehill soon came out of the room. Molehill carried two unconscious forms. One was the bug-thing called the Larva. The other was some mutated thing that the twins suspected was the 'volunteer' test subject.

Muffin entered the room again and lay another form on the ground. It was a body that looked like it was made of some sort of crystal. It had a faint, purplish glow to it. Molehill lifted this body onto its shoulder with the other forms. Eyeball Killer then gestured to follow him. Muffin disappeared and Munchie and Molehill left the room with Eyeball Killer.

"Well, they'll probably go out the way they came in," Shawn closed the link, "And the cameras are already dead."

"What was all that?" Kyle asked, bewildered.

"Oh, you know," Aaron waved the question away, "Home movies...Me and Shawn were just filming around and we wanted to send it in to a movie director and see if he would make it into a feature length film."

"He speaks the truth!" Shawn stood up, nearly dropping the laptop.

"YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!" Aaron thundered, standing up next to him.

"Well, you just woke up the rest of the school," Roberto stood up, "Nice job."

"I'm going to breakfast," Kyle headed for the door, "But, beware, miserable Kerrs, for we will find out what you're up to."

The twins waited until Roberto followed Kyle from the room.

"Ooh, that was clever," Aaron folded his arms.

"That's miserable CURS," Shawn mimicked his brother's position, "With a C!"

* * *

Not much action, but it's longer than the last few chapters. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?! I shouldn't yell like that...where would I be without you reviewers?


	11. Criminal Recruitment

More characters, folks! _MY_ characters, that is. Enjoy this bit of...stuff. And you'd better not get tired of original characters...cuz guess what...there's gonna be more.

* * *

Security guard, George Seaton, checked his watch. He hated his job. It was boring, lasted long hours, and didn't pay well. He looked around. He had only the countless paintings of contorted people and flat landscapes to keep him company in this museum.

He sighed. He was just about ready to drift off to sleep when he heard a low, belch-like voice blurt out what he thought sounded like "dirt".

"Great, now I'm hearing things," George muttered to himself. He began to walk towards the sound. He reached a large room filled with precious sculptures and a few potted plants. He turned on his flashlight. It was difficult to see in the museum at night.

Behind him, something crawled out of the potted plant and landed with a thud on the floor. George spun around, pointing the flashlight at the floor. What he saw turned his stomach over many times.

He was looking at a creature about the size of a housecat. It was slimy-looking and had six tentacles, two of which were held like a dog uses its front paws to beg. The revolting being had its mouth open, revealing an exceptionally long tongue which was hanging out. It would have looked like a dog if it weren't for it's slimy skin and its large, single, yellow eye.

The being seemed to smile as George removed his pistol from his belt slowly. Without warning, the being's tongue shot back into its mouth and it began to scurry away. George took off after it while pulling his two-way radio from his belt.

"This is guard six!" he shouted into the radio, "There's something down in the Sculpture Area!"

He knew he had at least a minute before another guard found him. Until then he would have to keep the little, slimy nuisance in his sight. Unfortunately, that was a little easier said than done. The gross little creature was quick and kept climbing onto sculptures.

"We're going to need more than two people down here," he said into his radio, "And make it quick!"

* * *

Nyoko Kotara watched the hallway from the vent in the ceiling. The guard below her received a message from his radio about something in the Sculpture Area...the other side of the museum.

The guard didn't move until the second message came through the radio. He walked away down the hallway. As soon as he was out of sight, she opened the grate and slid out onto the floor. She pushed a strand of her dark hair out of her face and moved quietly towards the other side of the hallway.

She reached another room and looked up at the vent in the ceiling.

"Tony!" she hissed. A moment later, a spectacled face appeared in the vent.

Tony Mardolino removed the grate and lifted Nyoko into the vent.

"Sludge is keeping the guards busy," Nyoko told him, "We should have plenty of time."

"That's good," Tony said in his slight Italian accent, "According to the map on my laptop, the room we're looking for is only a hallway away."

Tony indicated his laptop screen.

"Let's keep going then," Nyoko instructed.

They continued through the ventilation system until they reached another grate. Tony lifted the grate and set it aside. He then pulled the laptop from his coat. His coat was very large and sported some huge pockets.

"According to the layout," Tony said quietly, "there are security beams throughout the room, crisscrossing in unsystematic locations."

"All you have to do is look to see that," Nyoko said impatiently. Sometimes Tony's computer skills got on her nerves.

"Of course," Tony said apologetically, "I'll take care of it."

Besides being an expert with computers, Tony had the mutant ability to create voids in the atmosphere. Anything inside these voids while they were created were temporarily put out of existence. After creation, anything that wasn't there before could enter the void without difficulty.

Tony reached out his hand towards the glass box in the middle of the room. The top of the box disappeared along with all the beams above it. The ends of the beams could still be seen where they had been cut off by the cylindrical void.

"Time to do it the old fashioned way," Tony pulled a rope from his pocket.

Nyoko let him tie it around her waist and tighten it.

"That should hold," Tony took the other end of the rope in his hands, "Ready?"

Nyoko nodded slipped through the opening and into the void. The discontinued beams had once made her nervous. That was back when she had first become a burglar. As the years went by, she became more and more accustomed to the tasks, especially after she met Tony. Tony had made things much easier in terms of stealing precious items.

Nyoko reached into the glass box and lifted the sparkling emerald from its small stand. She placed it in the pouch on her belt and gave the hand signal for Tony to pull her up. A few moments later, Tony was untying the rope and placing it back in his coat pocket.

"How much do you think it's worth?" Nyoko showed him the emerald.

"I'll check," Tony responded, immediately typing on his laptop, "It depends on where we sell it. If we sell it to a museum other than here the options are almost endless. If we sell it on the Black Market the options are limited."

"We'll figure it out later," Nyoko handed Tony the emerald for him to place in his pocket, "Now let's get Sludge."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Tony brought the museum layout onto the laptop screen again, "All we have to do is follow the ventilation system until we reach the closest computerized sign. Once we're there, I can program it to display a message to Sludge. Sludge is quite intelligent. He'll figure it out."

* * *

Intelligent was a good word to describe Sludge. Sludge was enjoying himself, evading the countless guards chasing him. He would occasionally hide around a corner and wait for a guard to approach...then wrap his tongue around the unfortunate guard's legs and trip him, creating a pileup behind him.

Sludge had just hidden himself behind the head of a distorted statue, when a frustrated guard walked past him. Just as he had planned, Sludge popped out from behind the statue and landed on the guard's head. The rest of the guards pointed their pistols at Sludge.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" the guard with Sludge on his head waved his arms frantically to keep from being shot.

Sludge licked the guard's face and shot off into the darkness of the museum once more. An automated sign caught his single eye. It read: GET OUTSIDE!!! Sludge instantly understood and scurried to the two exit doors where he hid behind a large vase. The guards came rushing into the room, stopping by the doors to look at the programmed sign.

"What's that supposed to mean?" one of the guards asked.

"It's probably some advertisement for the nature exhibit and someone just left it on," another guard said.

Sludge licked the leg of the guard closest to him. The guard, being caught by surprise, whirled around, startling most of the other guards.

"There it is!!!" the guard yelled.

Sludge opened his mouth and spit in the guard's face.

"Agh!!" the guard stumbled backward into the other guards.

"Stop pushing!" the other guards pushed the guard back towards Sludge. The guard tripped and fell, knocking the glass door open. Sludge quickly slipped out the door and into the night.

* * *

Magneto stood on a street corner watching the museum. Around him stood Gambit, Pietro, Toad, and Photon. The museum showed no signs of being active.

"Are you sure this is the right building?" Toad asked, obviously bored.

"Scanners show one Japanese female and one Italian male on the second floor," Photon reported, having transformed his hand into a heat scanner, "Scanners also show a large number of American males and an unclassified creature on the first floor."

"This is the right building," Magneto insisted, "All we must do is wait."

"Waiting is right up there with showers," Toad muttered, "I hate them both."

Seven minutes later, a grate on the side of the museum opened and a dark shadow jumped from the opening. It turned and helped a second dark shadow from the vent.

"Our wait is over," Magneto smiled, "Let us greet them."

"Be ready to gather the rest of the troops if we're in need of puissance dans les nombres," Gambit reminded Pietro.

"Can't understand French, but I know what you mean," Pietro replied.

* * *

As soon as Tony set her down, Nyoko realized that someone else was near.

"Someone's coming," she said, staring into the darkness beyond the streetlights.

Tony looked up and squinted into the shadows, "I do hear footsteps. You don't suppose it's the cops, do you?"

"Cops always come with their sirens blaring," Nyoko shook her head, "It doesn't matter. We can defend ourselves."

A group of five people stepped into the light. The leading figure wore some sort of dark red armor with a matching cape and helmet. To his right, there was a slim figure with silvery white hair and another figure that seemed to be hopping instead of walking. On the lead figure's left, there was a man wearing a large overcoat accompanied with a pair of glowing, red eyes. To _his_ left, there was what looked like a robot. The group stopped with a few feet in between themselves and the burglars.

"Good evening," the first figure stated.

"Buona sera," Tony returned the greeting, knowing Nyoko wouldn't.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the lead figure spoke again, "I am Magneto and I have a proposal for you."

"How do you even know if we're the ones your looking for?" Nyoko asked, menacingly.

The robotic man spoke, "You meet the descriptions of Nyoko Kotara a.k.a. Riptide and Anthony Mardolino a.k.a. Vortex."

"Indeed you are the ones I am looking for," Magneto continued, "I am aware that you are both expert burglars. Excellent traits for a normal human being. But as you and I already know, you are mutants like myself and my colleagues."

At that moment, Sludge rounded the corner, spotted his masters, and climbed his way to Nyoko's shoulder.

"Meet Sludge," Tony explained while Sludge began to pant like a dog, "Our loyal accomplice and friend."

The figure furthest to Magneto's right left its crouching position and stood up.

"Hey, man! Check out his tongue!" the figure pointed to Sludge, "He's like a mini-me!"

"Shut up, Toad," the white-haired figure pushed the one called Toad back to his crouching position.

"As to my proposal," Magneto went on, silencing the squabble, "I would be honored if the three of you would join my Brotherhood of Mutants. It is an organization that is for the support of mutant safety. Sympathy for normal human beings cannot be found in this association.

Magneto paused for any response. When there was none, he continued, "The Brotherhood is facing hard times. We recently lost a few of our members. We have also learned of an enemy that plans to attack us. This enemy is building his army as we must do now. I would be deeply honored if you would join us."

Tony glanced at Nyoko. She made no response. He opened his mouth to say something when there was an angry voice from far behind them.

"It had to have come this way!!" it was the guards.

"Pietro," Magneto made a hand gesture to the white-haired figure.

The one called Pietro disappeared in a blur towards the opposite direction.

"They're looking for Sludge," Nyoko said to no one.

"Let us take care of these humans for you," Magneto offered without waiting for an answer.

In the next moment, Pietro had come back followed not so quickly by a group of nine other men. That group rounded the corner and charged the guards. Shocked and frightened by the sudden attack, as well as the group's looks, the guards didn't stay long.

After staring at the nine attackers, Nyoko and Tony turned back to Magneto.

"We may be strong, but the variety of power always interests us," Magneto gave a slight smile.

"I suppose we could join you," Tony said hesitantly, "Although we don't like too much publicity."

"I cannot guarantee that we will keep out of public eyes," Magneto told them, "But we can do our best."

"Ce sera un plaisir de travailler avec vous," the man with the overcoat held out his hand.

"I know a greeting when I hear it," Tony smiled and took the man's hand.

"Remy LeBeau, but call me Gambit," the man winked at Nyoko, "Welcome to the Brotherhood, mes amis."

* * *

You like, no? Did you catch the little cameo thing in the beginning? Tell me if you did...I like to know. Oh, and for all of you who don't know what Travis looks like...you know, the student at Xavier's...he's called Flare...well, anyway, I have decided that he has red hair. Hahar!


	12. New Students and the MAIL

I'm back! It's been longer than usual since I've updated...sorry. Got a job. Although that's not what's been taking away my time...it's not a demanding job. I just haven't had the inspiration to write lately. But I've started again. Oh, yeah, the cameo from last chapter! Pyrotic is the only one who got it. But Pyrotic cheats, so there! Anyway, look at the very first character mentioned in the last chapter. FIRST AND LAST NAME!!! If you can't get it after studying it for hours and hours, then read chapter 9 of my first book...which I have to fix. All bunched up and stuff. If you don't get it then, I'll tell you. Yah, enjoy.

* * *

Ruben was standing in the middle of the hallway molding clay into an indistinguishable shape. Ruben was soon joined by Bobby, Rogue, Amara, Ray, Kurt, and Allen.

"What're you doing?" Ray said immediately.

"Can't you tell?" Rogue gestured to Ruben's clay, "It's modern art."

"Dude, it looks like a helicopter with poison ivy," Allen commented.

"What does a helicopter with poison ivy look like?" Amara asked him, doubting she would like the answer.

She was spared from hearing one by Ruben's sudden outburst, "No, no, no! It's all wrong! It's garbage! I hate myself!!"

The other students could only watch as Ruben crushed the clay blob with his hand. He then lifted it into the air and took a big bite out of it, making Amara wince in disgust. Ruben suddenly got a peculiar look on his face and spit out the clay. He then proceeded to let out a scream and stick his head in the nearby fish tank.

"Hey, Bobby, why don't you freeze the water," Ray grinned mischievously, "I think it would be funny to see him walk around with a cube of ice on his head."

Bobby would have answered, but Amara stomped on Ray's foot.

"It's a good thing I have my camera with me," Kurt pulled a camera from his pocket and quickly snapped a picture of Ruben with his head in the fish tank.

Roberto and Kyle walked into the hallway.

"Hey, you should keep an eye out for the twins," Roberto warned, "I think they're up to something."

"Yeah, they were watching some security camera thing on the internet," Kyle explained.

"Anyway, I'm going to breakfast," Roberto announced.

"Good idea," Bobby agreed.

The students, excluding Ruben, began to walk to the Meal Room. As they entered, they passed Jean walking the other way.

"Is the breakfast any good today?" Rogue asked her.

"Oh, I didn't have a chance to have any yet," Jean stopped and gestured towards the door, "I was going to, but I sensed someone outside."

Jean continued to the front door while the students got their breakfast. Opening the door, she greeted the two newcomers, "Welcome to Xavier's School for the Gifted."

"Yup, dis is da place," the tall Jamaican teen said to the shorter, brown-haired girl next to him, "I am Marcus Kashka, and dis is Jaime Bancroft."

Marcus's dark dreadlocks were nearly matched in color by his dark skin, which contrasted with Jaime's slightly tan complexion.

"Why don't you come in," Jean stood back to let the newcomers inside, "We're all just eating breakfast."

At that moment, Ruben came stumbling into the hallway, his hair dripping. He stopped as he saw Marcus and Jaime. Marcus walked up to him and held out his hand.

"Hey, man! Does it rain inside here or what?" Marcus said jokingly, "I am Marcus and dis is Jaime."

Ruben shook Marcus's hand and began speaking as if he were a butler for some rich guy, "But of course. I am Ruben of the Shire...but actually not."

Ruben's 'formal' attitude quickly wore off and he gestured for Marcus and Jaime to follow him, shouting, "TO THE MEAL ROOM!"

* * *

The rest of the school, excluding Nucleo and his 'army', was eating breakfast. Nucleo had taken his followers into the city the night before to find another mutant.

Bobby sighed. Bear had just emerged from Bobby's bowl of cereal, eliminating Bobby's appetite.

"Cheeweeos! Fwoopdewoops! Popocuffs!" Bear shouted, naming brands of cereal, "Wice kwispies! Siwy wabbit! Twix is fo I!"

The students watched as Bear jumped out of the bowl, dripping with milk, and ran away towards Mr. Kamon's counter shouting, "Wucky Choms! Magicwy dewishus!"

"And you wonder why Bobby hasn't died of starvation yet," Travis commented, smoothing his red hair.

Kurt picked a clump of hair out of Bobby's cereal, "I suggest not eating that."

"That's disgusting!" Amara pushed the last of her toast away, her appetite disappearing.

"That's right, kids!" Shawn announced, "Hairballios is part of your balanced breakfast!"

"We eat what we like!" Aaron joined in.

"Dude, the taste you can see!" Allen smiled proudly.

Jubilee gave Amara a pat on the back, "Try not to toss your cookies until you're back in your room."

"Great, here comes Fish Tank Head," Ray muttered, hearing Ruben's shout from the hallway.

"And he's, like, got someone with him," Kitty added.

Ruben hopped onto the table, knocking over Cory's orange juice and the bottle of syrup.

"Here ye! Here ye!" Ruben shouted, "Lend me your ears!"

"It's supposed to be 'Hear ye, hear ye'" Aaron corrected.

"Dude, you don't need anyone's ears," Allen informed Ruben.

"Be silent!" Ruben began shouting again, "I would like to introduce..."

Ruben was interrupted by Scott from the other table, "Ruben, sit down!"

"Curses!" Ruben clenched his fist dramatically and climbed down off the table.

In that matter of time Marcus began to introduce himself without Ruben's help, "I am Marcus and..."

"I'm Jaime," Jaime cut him off.

"Dude, you don't look like Jamie," Allen scratched his head. Allen was referring to Jamie Madrox, who had left the school temporarily to live with a friend and his family in another state.

"Allen, this is a different person," Rahne informed him, "People are allowed to have the same name, you know."

The twins stood up in unison, extending their hands, "Live long and prosper."

"Let them get their breakfast," Melanie said to Shawn.

"She's got a point," Shawn immediately sat down. Aaron stared at him for a moment, flashed an eccentric madman grin, and sat down.

Ruben, Marcus, and Jaime went to get their breakfast from Mr. Kamon, who watched them suspiciously.

After breakfast, Bobby and Rogue introduced Marcus and Jaime to the teachers, while all the other students went to get ready for their classes.

"Mr. Summers teaches chemistry," Bobby was explaining the classes, "Ms. Munroe teaches history, Professor Xavier teaches physics, Dr. Grey teaches all our math, Mr. McCoy teaches science, and Mr. Fulke and Logan teach our gym class. Logan also trains us in the Danger Room."

"It sounds fun," Jaime looked around the Meal Room.

"But da reason I'm here," Marcus explained, "is 'cause I can't keep my power under control."

"What _is_ your power?" Storm asked him.

"It's dis weird sort of ting," Marcus began, "It's like I got some sort of shield around me, and when someting comes too close, it gets zapped. Dat's why I am sometimes called Visor,"

"The greatest reason that we have this school, Marcus," Xavier spoke up, "Is to help mutants control their abilities."

"Dat is good," Marcus smiled, "I don't got a problem controlling it around people, but it's da small stuff dat sets me off. Like da bugs and stuff. Dey fly too close and bam! Dey gone."

"How about you, Jaime?" Xavier turned to Jaime, already knowing the answer, "What is your power?

"I can control anything that is not liquid or solid," Jaime explained, "Things like smoke, fog, even oxygen. I'm sometimes called Vapor."

"It gives a whole new meaning to da phrase 'take your breath away'," Marcus smiled at his own joke.

"If you're curious about the other mutants' powers here," Scott offered, "I can show you the records. Or just ask them. I'm sure they'd be glad to give a demonstration."

Rogue gave him a dirty look.

"Uh, _most_ of them will be able to give a demonstration, that is," Scott said apologetically.

* * *

Packrat sat at the end of the driveway next to the mailbox. He had seen the white vehicle bring the pretty envelopes for many weeks. Now he wanted some of his own.

It wasn't long before the mail truck rounded the corner. As it drew nearer, Packrat hid in a bush. He waited until the envelopes had been placed in the mailbox. He knew that the envelopes in the mailbox belonged to his friends.

"But there has must be more envolpes in the wheelsy white box," Packrat crept from the bush, "Brine wonders what becomes of the other envolpes. Brine must get him some."

Packrat slipped into the door-less mail truck without being seen. As he crept into the back of the truck, he was overjoyed to find himself surrounded by thousands of envelopes, sorted and rubber-banded together. He quickly grabbed one of the rubber-banded packets of envelopes.

Packrat looked around and spotted a handle on the back of the truck. He immediately pulled it, opening the back door.

As the mailman pulled away, he heard the back door clang and looked in his rearview mirror. He slammed on the brakes as he saw his neatly sorted envelopes flying from the back of the truck. He got out, grumbling, and began to pick up the rubber-banded envelopes. In his frustration, he never noticed Packrat scurrying back to the Mansion.

* * *

Inside the Mansion, Packrat scuttled through the hall towards his room. Halfway there, Jubilee, Kitty, and Louis stepped into the hallway, accompanied by Aaron, Shawn, Melanie, and Steve.

"What do you have there, Packrat?" Jubilee asked him, indicating the envelopes in Packrats hands.

"Brine never takes envolpes from wheelsy white box," Packrat quickly hid the envelopes behind his back, "Brine knows not what you talks from."

"You, like, totally can't fool us, Packrat," Kitty told him.

"We'll make you a deal," Aaron said, reaching into his pocket, "If you let us see what you have behind your back, we'll give you this paper clip chain, this coat button, and this Canadian penny. Whaddaya say?"

"Thinks about this, Brine must," Packrat pondered, "Brine gets his envolpes back?"

"Without a doubt," Louis quickly spoke up.

"Without the doubting, yes," Packrat scratched his stubbly chin, "Brine thinks that he will accept your fantastish offer."

"A pleasure doing business with you," Shawn shook Packrat's hand while taking the packet of envelopes from him, "Have a nice day, sir."

Aaron handed over the three items from his pocket. Packrat, being overjoyed, ran to put them in his room.

"So what was he hiding?" Jubilee looked at the envelopes in Shawn's hand, "Whose mail is it?"

"Um, mine, of course!" Shawn quickly put the envelopes in his pocket, "What a coincidence!"

"Wait a minute!" Jubilee took hold of Shawn's shoulder, "That's not your mail!"

"Yes, it is," Shawn protested, "Don't you believe me?"

"No," Jubilee continued to grip Shawn's shoulder, holding out her hand for the envelopes, "Hand 'em over."

Shawn hesitantly pulled the envelopes from his pocket. He pretended to look at the addresses and quickly looked up.

"Oh, you're right!" Shawn gave an innocent smile, then quickly tossed them to Aaron, "They're Aaron's! Run, Aaron, run!"

Aaron took off down the hallway, having no idea why.

"Stop that Kerr!" Jubilee shouted.

Louis placed his hands on the wall. His hands quickly began to turn green and extend into climbing ivy. The ivy grew across the wall and around the corner that Aaron had run.

There was a distant wail of defeat. Jubilee, Kitty, Shawn, Melanie, and Steve began to walk down the hallway, the walls covered with climbing ivy. Louis followed them, the ivy they passed transforming back into his hands.

They finally reached a clump of the ivy on the wall with Aaron's face sticking out of it.

"Sorry, bro," Aaron apologized, "Nature is an amazing thing."

"Where are the envelopes?" Jubilee demanded.

"Oh, they're in here somewhere," Aaron assured her.

Louis released Aaron, the rest of the ivy forming Louis's fingers. Aaron slid onto the floor and grinned up at them all. Louis handed the envelopes to Jubilee.

"Like, who's it for?" Kitty looked over her shoulder.

"Some mutation database," Jubilee looked confused.

"It's probably some sort of mutant organization," Steve suggested while Melanie nodded.

"You know something!" Jubilee pointed to Shawn, "What's the mutation database?"

"I don't...know?" Shawn's voice tapered off when he saw the look on Jubilee's face, "Oh, ok. I'll tell you. But I'll need to sit down."

While the group walked to the living room where they could sit down, Jubilee held Kitty back.

"This doesn't seem like just another one of their pranks," Jubilee gave her opinion, "I think the other students should know. Not the teachers, at least not yet. Find all the students that you can and send them to the living room. I'll look upstairs."

Kitty nodded and set off to find students.

* * *

You like? Not a bad chapter. More characters as you can see...har har. Oh, by the way, Ruben's sudden outburst from the beginning of the chapter is taken from Weird Al's enhanced CD, Poodle Hat...there's a video of Al's Home Movies on the CD and Al says, "No, no, no! It's all wrong! It's garbage! I hate myself!" in the commentary of the Home Movies. I thought it was funny. I give credit to Weird Al, of course. Farewell, until next time, faithful reviewers! Look both ways before crossing the road! 


	13. Familiar Gangster

* * *

Aha!!! An update! Yeah, it's kinda short and it's more...RECRUITING!!!! I know you guys love that kind of stuff, but perhaps you'll remember this guy. No, not the first guy, the other guy. Yeah, THAT guy. Um, right.

* * *

Phil Staler drummed his fingers on the counter of his pawn shop. Business was the usual low. So, of course, it pleased him to see his old gangster friend open the door and walk in.

Massacre walked up to Phil and leaned on the counter.

"Hey, long time, no see," Phil grinned, "Another shipment of daggers, I presume."

"That's right," Massacre nodded, "But I need something extra this time."

"Of course," Phil pressed a button behind the counter and the wall behind him opened, "Follow me."

The room behind the wall was filled with sharp objects. Most were swords of different shapes and sizes, but there were also other weapons mounted on the walls.

"You always got what I need," Massacre smiled unpleasantly.

"What can I say?" Phil swelled with pride.

Massacre lifted a large scimitar from the wall and inspected it carefully. He put it back and spotted a pair of identical double-edged swords.

"This is what I need, Phil," Massacre removed the blades from the wall, balancing them in his hands. He swung them around a bit, causing Phil to take a step back nervously.

"I'll ring it up for you," Phil walked back to the register.

Massacre followed Phil from the room. Phil placed a large wooden box on the counter and reached under the counter for something else.

"I'll throw in these leather scabbards," Phil placed them on the box.

Massacre paid for the items and handed Phil an extra fifty dollar bill, "For your service. Don't spend it all in one place."

Massacre put the swords in their scabbards and put those in the box, which was full of shining daggers.

"Always a pleasure," Phil put the fifty dollar bill in his pocket as Massacre left the shop. Massacre certainly wasn't known for his generosity, but any extra money was always welcome at Phil's Pawn Shop.

* * *

Massacre placed the wooden box in the back seat of his black Mercedes. He got inside and pulled away. Glancing in his rearview mirror he caught sight of a large van behind him. He smiled scornfully as he compared his car to the piece of trash that was following him.

Suddenly, Massacre's smile disappeared. _The piece of trash was following him_. He reached a red light and checked his rearview mirror again. The van was still there. Massacre waited for the light to turn green. When the light _did_ turn green, he pushed the pedal to the floor. The old junker behind him couldn't possibly keep up with him at this speed.

He pulled into an alleyway and got out of the car. He looked out at the road, satisfied. He began to turn around when, to his shock, the large van pulled into the alley blocking his exit.

Massacre opened the back door and pulled the wooden box towards him. He looked up at the van and saw a familiar person get out of the passenger seat.

"Massacre, one of Magneto's right hand men," Nucleo smiled as he got out of the van, followed by Lorenzo, Max, Carl, Mike, and Roy.

Massacre recognized Magneto's former test subject, as well as Lorenzo and Max, but he didn't know the others, "I don't work for Magneto anymore. So sorry to ruin your plot for revenge."

"I am aware of the situation," Nucleo took a few steps forward. Massacre opened the wooden box next to him and pulled two daggers from it.

"There is no need for your hostility," Nucleo clasped his hands behind his back, "I know that your opinion for Magneto has changed since you served him. If I am correct, I have the exact same feelings."

"So what you want?" Massacre gripped his daggers tightly.

"I want my revenge, as do you," Nucleo stated, his glass eye glittering in the sunlight that entered the alley, "I wish for you to join me, to share my revenge."

Massacre lowered his weapons. Revenge was exactly what he wanted. But he had always known that Magneto was too strong, not to mention had his own army.

"I accept your offer," Massacre announced.

"Good," Nucleo smiled, "I see that you have your own means of transportation, as does Blacksmith, but we, of course, didn't bring that. Just follow our van back to headquarters. It will be a slightly long trip."

"Where's headquarters?" Massacre asked suspiciously as he put the daggers back into the box, closing the lid.

Nucleo hesitated, "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

"What?!" Massacre shouted, "I can't go there!"

"It is only a temporary arrangement," Nucleo assured him, "It isn't permanent."

"It had better not be," Massacre warned, frustrated.

Massacre got into his car. Nucleo and the others followed suit and got back into their van, Lorenzo driving.

Massacre backed out of the alleyway, following Nucleo's van. He hadn't mentioned his feelings about staying in the same building as his enemy of the past, Brian Crillow. He would keep things under control, no matter how much his emotions would interfere. His frustration kept his attention away from the grinning figure crouching in the dumpster in the alley.

* * *

Yeah...short...but there must be chapters like this to bring things together. It must be done. So har-de-har-har...um, that was...yeah. Well, I'm off to see the Lizard...the Wonderful Lizard of...Shnoz!!! Awaaaaaaayyy!!!!!!!!


	14. Explanation of the Letters

OHOY!!! An update! From ME!!! Certainly wasn't expected was it? Yeah, I'm sorry for the long wait, but ever since school started, I haven't had time to do much of anything. But, hey, this chapter's longer than the last chapter, and far more interesting…so enjoy…and don't be expecting a chapter for a while, because it's just by chance that I have time to do this right now.

* * *

Aaron, Shawn, Melanie, Steve, and Louis were assembled in the living room, Aaron, Shawn, and Melanie sat on one of the couches while Steve and Louis were scattered in various armchairs. They all looked up as the door opened and the rest of the students entered the room, followed by Jubilee and Kitty. 

"What _is_ this, a court hearing?" Shawn looked startled, "I said I'd tell _you_, not the world!"

"This isn't one of your pranks, _is_ it?" Jubilee asked as she closed the doors.

"Bringing all these people was _your_ idea, not mine!" Shawn said indignantly.

"Not that!" Jubilee snapped, holding up the envelopes, "This whole mutation database thing."

"Oh, that," Shawn looked at his brother, who shrugged, "Well, here we go."

"Let me begin," Aaron insisted, "Now it'd be real nice if you didn't let this stuff into the open, because, well, you'll see. Anyway, it all started when me and Shawn offered to do a little…"

"Research?" Cory finished.

"I wasn't going to say that!" Aaron objected, "We offered to do a little…spying…for Roy, you know, that lizard guy who works for Nucleo. Anyway, we found this weird article about mutations or experiments doing things to people. At the bottom of the paper, there was a website written."

"So we checked it out," Shawn cut in, "We read a few more articles about taking DNA from a mutant bug and giving it to a so-called _volunteer_ test subject. He ended up getting all mutated and stuff."

"So that's what those security cameras were from," Roberto said accusingly.

"I was getting there!" Shawn protested, "Well, we looked at some crappy security footage that showed their database getting trashed and robbed by four mutants. One of them did something to the guards' eyes. Maybe he burned them out or something."

He paused to ponder it while Amara gave a grimace of revulsion which received a look from Ray.

"Um, ok," Aaron began again while Shawn concentrated, "Anyway, one of them was eating through their fence and the security doors and stuff. Another one was kinda creepy lookin' and disappeared a lot. The last one looked like a big rock."

"Man, dis is only our first day and it's already exciting!" Marcus nudged Jaime who smiled and nodded in agreement.

Aaron continued while Allen muttered, "Exciting?" to himself.

"So anyway, the four mutants stole the mutant bug, the mutated test subject, and some shiny-looking guy. And ever since we saw that footage, we've been wondering about this…mutation database."

"Mysterious," Kurt mumbled to himself.

"_Terribly _mysterious," Ruben corrected him, quoting Mystery Men.

Siryn looked over at Jubilee, who was sifting through the envelopes, "Who're they from?"

"Huh?" Jubilee looked up, "Oh, it looks like they're from other mutant testing places and there's a couple from some guy."

"Open them! Open them! Open them!" Sam could no longer contain his excitement.

"I agree," Erin nodded, "Let's see what's inside."

"Maybe it's money," Ray suggested.

"Maybe it's not," Ruben shrugged.

"Wait, guys!" Amara interrupted them, "What if whoever sent these finds out that we took them?"

"Exciting?" Allen muttered.

"But we _didn't_ take them," Travis pointed out, "Besides, Frank's an expert at copying other people's writing. We could just put the mail in another envelope."

"That's illegal, too," Amara mumbled.

"What could possibly go wrong?" Shawn asked the whole room, while Aaron poked the hair spikes on the front of Travis's head.

"Well, there's always the possibility of…" Bobby started.

"That wasn't a question to be answered!" Shawn quickly cut him off.

"Dude, how do you know if you can answer a question or not?" Allen was completely bewildered.

"Someday, Allen, someday you will know," Aaron assured him and pretended to prick himself on Travis's hair, "Ouch! I'm bleeding!"

"Shuttup," Travis muttered.

Jubilee finally decided to open the letters. The first one was from XX Industries in Oklahoma.

"Ok," Jubilee began to read, "It says: We received your shipment of parts yesterday. Expect payment after your next shipment. We expect it in two weeks."

"My mom writes better letters than that," Kyle commented, "And she doesn't even write me any."

"I feel your pain," Steve told him.

Allen punched them both, "There! _Now_ you feel his pain."

"Gee, thanks, Allen," Steve said sarcastically.

"No problem, dude," Allen obviously didn't catch the sarcasm.

"Next letter," Roberto said impatiently.

Jubilee removed the next letter from its envelope. The return address read only 'Clark'.

Jubilee told the students who it was from and began to read, "It says: It would deeply satisfy me to carry out your task. I will accompany one of my squadrons and we will arrive at your headquarters soon after you receive this letter. I would like nothing better than to eliminate your pests. --Clark"

"Who's Clark?" Louis asked.

"Superman," Ruben shook his head in amazement, "Duh!"

"Dude, you're right!" Allen exclaimed.

"Who cares who Clark is?" Amara said, trying to get to the point, "What is this 'task' he's talking about?"

"How do you know Clark is a guy?" Travis asked, while Ruben chuckled.

"Hey!" Shawn shouted at Jubilee, "You opened the rest without us!"

"There's only one good one," Jubilee shrugged, "Here, I'll read it to you. It says: This is a simple request. Our technology is of premium quality. Our SiestaRay is guaranteed to keep any living organism asleep for hours, with only the press of a button. But we are sure that what you are most excited about is our full Mutant-Security-System. It should keep your mutant problem at an all-time low. We are, however, expecting payment in two weeks. Don't be late."

There was a short moment of silence.

"Well, I think we know what Clark's task is," Kyle broke the silence.

"They're trying to kill us all," Sam hung his head.

"They're only trying to kill the criminal mutants," Bobby assured him.

"Yeah, right," Ray muttered.

"I'm going to have to agree with Ray on this one," Roberto said hesitantly.

The twins gave an exaggerated gasp. Rahne, Amara, and Allen looked bewildered. Ruben chuckled.

"Can I quote you on that?" Kurt asked.

"Shut up," Roberto mumbled.

"It _is_ the first time that you've agreed with Ray since, like, three years ago," Kitty said, followed by nods from everyone else.

"Perhaps we should converge our attentiveness on the significance of the circumstances at hand," Frank suggested.

"Whatever he said, he's right," Erin agreed.

"Guys, we have to keep this whole thing a secret from the teachers," Jubilee insisted, "If they find out…"

"They'll go nutso!" Ruben finished.

"That's a bad thing, right?" Jaime asked.

The twins put on serious faces and nodded ominously.

"That's a yes," Rogue whispered.

There was a sudden outburst heard from outside the room.

"Meeting adjourned," Jubilee announced and headed for the door.

The students flowed from the room and into the hallway. Scott was holding Packrat to the floor with the help of a man with neatly trimmed blonde hair.

"Hey, what're you guys doing?" Bobby asked.

"Packrat's gone crazy," Scott explained.

"Again?" Ray muttered.

"Oh, by the way," Scott said, out of breath, "This is my brother, Alex."

"Yo," Alex greeted the students.

"It is a pleasure, dude," Allen was pleased to hear the word 'yo'.

"So why is Packrat off the deep end?" Sam asked, followed by a chuckle from Ruben.

"I think he smells someone outside," Scott explained.

Sure enough, the door opened and Nucleo walked through the door.

"We are back," he announced as the rest of his followers walked inside, "And we have another member."

Packrat let out a rather disgusting noise as the newest member walked in. Everyone else looked startled, some accompanied by gasps.

"Whatchu lookin' at?" Massacre said rudely. He took one look at Packrat and walked upstairs calmly.

"Our school is turning into a criminal hideout," Cory mumbled.

"Why do I feel that this is just the beginning?" Kurt asked.

* * *

Not bad, eh? Ah, well…be happy with it, it's probably all you'll be getting until I get some more time on my hands. OH!!! By the way, when Ruben chuckles about Sam's comment about Packrat being off the deep end…it's because Weird Al has an album called Off the Deep End…and as you know, Ruben is a great fan of Weird Al. Alas, I must leave my semi-adoring fans. Farewell, farewell!! (asterisk)**places rose between teeth and dances away **(asterisk) 


	15. Locust's Story

Hi...I am ashamed to say that I have not much time and you shouldn't get mad at me...I don't deserve it...It's just that I have problems with time and inspiration...So...Enjoy if you want...

* * *

The Brotherhood was assembled back at their rusty headquarters. The normal activities had been taking place, card playing, watching TV, and eating. 

"So, uh, what do you wanna watch?" Toad asked Magneto, who looked completely out of place in his armchair.

Toad didn't receive an answer to his question so he continued to watch The Price Is Right.

"When's Smiley getting back?" Lance asked.

"Locust should be back soon," Magneto replied.

"Yeah, well, he's missing a good game in here," Paste commented.

"Oh, yeah," Zombie said sarcastically, "Gambit's winning again."

"And this is the TV room," Blob was finishing his tour with Nyoko, Tony, and Sludge.

Toad caught sight of Sludge and grinned, "Hey! Come up here and sit next to your Uncle Toad!"

Sludge happily did as he was told while Tony followed Blob into the 'Poker Room'.

"_You_ can sit by Uncle Toad, too," Toad offered Nyoko.

Nyoko gave him a dirty look and took the seat furthest away from Toad. Toad shrugged and went back to watching the tube, while stroking Sludge.

Nyoko felt uncomfortable being the only female in the Brotherhood. Most of them found satisfaction in trying to win her over. Tony and Sludge seemed happy in this place, but she couldn't match their feelings.

"I'm baaaaaaack!" Locust called from the doorway.

"Get in here!" Pietro shouted, while the poker players entered the TV room.

Locust made himself comfortable in an armchair while the rest of the Brotherhood stared at him impatiently.

"Ok, where was I?" Locust asked.

"You haven't started yet!" Mosquito informed him angrily, while Pyro flicked open his lighter threateningly.

"Calm down," Locust said, grinning, "So I was hiding in the dumpster when our good friend, Massacre, pulls up in his fancy car. He gets out of the car, looks around, and starts to go back…"

Locust paused dramatically.

"Cut that out!" Photon shouted accompanied by a growl from Hammerhead.

"Ok, ok," Locust continued, "So then, a big van pulls in, blocking Massacre's way out, right? Then our other good friend, Nucleo, gets out of the van with his cronies. Massacre's all like 'don't bother me, I didn't do nuffin'. And Nucleo's all like 'No, man, I wanna be friends'. And Massacre's all like 'yeah, why?'. And Nucleo's all like 'Cuz I don't like Magneto and you don't either'. And Massacre's all like 'Ok, man, that's cool'. And Nucleo's all like 'We're staying at Xavier's joint'. And Massacre's all like 'No way, man! I hate that place!'. And Nucleo's all like 'It's alright, man, we won't be there forever'. And Massacre's all like 'Ok, fine, but it sucks'."

There was a pause.

"That's exactly how it went?" Pillbug questioned.

"Yeah, somethin' like that," Locust nodded.

"So they're staying at the Institute," Magneto said to himself, "Charles is choosing sides now, is he?"

"Who are these Xavier people?" Nyoko asked.

"Mutants, only nice ones," Paste explained.

"Well, I suppose we've got no choice than to attack," Mosquito said wearily, "Am I right?"

"Get yourselves ready," Magneto replied.

* * *

Short...sorry...there will be more...I actually have more chapters written, but I didn't want to post them because I was afraid it would catch up to my writing, but it doesn't look like it matters now, so I'll see what I can do...  
_(asterisk) _disappears mysteriously _(asterisk)_


	16. Discovery and War

I decided to post early due to my guilty conscience and my two eager reviewers demanded it...and it's longer than the last chapter...so you'd better be happy! Or else! It'd be nice to get some more reviewers too...(seeing as how Pyrotic is 'too cool' to review anymore)...but I can't really count on that...bummer...

* * *

It was lunch at the Xavier Institute. Everyone except the twins were surprised that Nucleo's newest member was Massacre.

"How convenient that you forgot to tell us the part about Nucleo hiring the dagger guy!" Roberto grumbled.

"Hey, there's a lot to remember here," Aaron protested, "We just figured that part was unimportant."

"Nothing's unimportant," Bobby insisted.

"Dude, I think I lost my contact lens in my water," Allen announced.

"Except for that," Ray muttered.

"Allen, why is your water fizzing?" Siryn asked, "Are you drinking club soda?"

"That stuff's nasty!" Amara shuddered.

Allen took a sip and immediately spit it out and Kyle received a face-full of club soda, "Tastes bad. Hey, my contact lens."

Allen took the lens out of his mouth and put in back in his eye, while Amara closed her eyes.

"Cub sofa!" Bear rocketed out of Bobby's salad, "Eww, vegytofles!"

Bear shook off the vegetables and picked up a leaf of lettuce. He walked across the table to Ruben and shoved the lettuce in his face.

Ruben stared at the lettuce for a moment and began to sing, "Doncha tell me you're full! Just, eat iiit! Eat iiit! Open up your mouth and feed it!"

"NOO!" Bear screamed, "I's not likin' vegytofles! Theys ikie!"

"Ruben, stop singing!" Rogue shouted.

Ruben paused for a moment and took up a rapper pose, "Ya'll gonna make me lose my mind! Up in here! Up in here!"

"Yay," Ray groaned, "Even better."

Jean walked up to their table.

"Bear, come with me," she picked up the veggie covered ball of fuzz, "What is that?"

Jean hadspotted one of the open letters laying open on the table. No one said a word for a moment. Ruben's hand suddenly darted out and snatched the letter.

"Song lyrics!" Ruben exclaimed, "Risin' above the city, blockin' out the noonday sun and dwarfs, the mighty redwoods and it towers over everyone!"

"I'm sorry I asked," Jean turned and walked from the room.

"That was close," Cory sighed from relief.

"Quick thinking, Ruben," Sarah complemented.

Jubilee took the letter from Ruben, "We should put these in new envelopes and rewrite the addresses as soon as possible."

* * *

Jean walked from Bear's room after putting him to bed for his nap. She sent out a thought to the professor and the X-Men to meet her in Xavier's office.

Minutes later, the X-Men were assembled in the office, waiting for Jean to explain.

"The students are up to something," Jean began.

"When aren't they?" Beast laughed quickly before diverting his attention to Jean again.

"They had a letter from some company about anti-mutant devices," Jean continued, "I asked what it was and they tried to cover it up."

"Why was the letter sent here?" Storm asked.

"It wasn't," Jean explained grimly.

"That's convenient," Alex said, mainly to himself.

"I'm not even sure why they have it," Jean shrugged.

Xavier sat in silence with his eyes closed.

"Brian took the letters," Xavier said, his eyes still closed.

"There's more than one?" Logan asked.

"Some of the students traded a few items for Brian's stolen letters," Xavier opened his eyes, "Apparently, our twins had already known something about the letters."

"They think we don't know, right?" Ben asked.

"Yes, I didn't press the matter after their cover-up," Jean replied.

"We will keep that charade," Xavier instructed, "For now."

"I think we should investigate this, Professor," Scott voiced his opinion.

"Yes," Xavier nodded, then frowned, "We have visitors."

* * *

Carl finished putting his socks on and glanced out the window.

"Uh, you guys should probably see this," he gestured for Nucleo and the rest of the team to look.

Nucleo smiled, "So he has come to me instead. Get yourselves ready."

He gestured for the rest of the room inhabitants to follow him as he left the room.

The Brotherhood stood assembled on Xavier's lawn. Magneto stood with his arms crossed while the rest of the Brotherhood waited impatiently.

"Ah, here they come," Magneto smiled slightly as Nucleo walked from the Institute followed by the rest of his followers.

The Brotherhood began to advance towards Nucleo and his followers.

"Leave Magneto to me," Nucleo instructed.

Carl clenched his fist which began to give off a blue glow. He opened his fist and tossed the newly created ball of electricity into the air, catching the chain of voltage trailing after it. He swung it around above his head as he charged the nearest Brotherhood member. It just happened to be Blob.

Because of his lack of knowledge of any of the Brotherhood, Carl was surprised when his sphere of energy bounced harmlessly off of Blob's stomach. Blob laughed and took a swing at his attacker. Carl luckily recovered from his shock quickly and ducked under the huge fist. Carl clenched both of his fists and created two more globes of voltage. Jumping back from another of Blob's swinging fists, Carl got an idea. He held the two energy chains in his left hand and created a third sphere with his right hand. He quickly applieda pastime skill and began to juggle the sparking orbs.

Blob paused for a moment. Carl's juggling seemed almost as if he was taunting him. Blob clenched his teeth in anger. He **hated** being taunted. He let out a bellow of rage and charged the juggling mutant.

Without hesitation, Carl flicked his wrist, sending one of the spheres into Blob's face. The orb bounced off and landed back in Carl's hand. Carl had continued to juggle the other two globes at the same time.

Blob suddenly felt his face being pelted with hot balls of electricity. He stopped his forward charge and began to walk backwards.

Max pummeled Zombie in the face with his fist. Zombie staggered back and shook his head to clear the stars from his vision. Max took hold of Zombie's shirt and lifted him into the air. Moments later, Max's mutated skin temperature ignited Zombie's shirt. Max threw him aside and looked around for another member.

Nearby, Pyro spotted the blazing inferno which was Zombie. Pyro grinned maliciously. Zombie soon found himself free from the flames as they rose into the air.

Max turned around and looked into the air and saw the ball of fire take the form of a giant hand. The hand waved at him and curled itself into a fist. He had no time to run as the burning fist hurtled towards him. He suddenly found himself engulfed in flame.

Lorenzo stared at the ball of fire. The fire lifted forming back into the fiery hand. It then seemed to spot Lorenzo. What seemed to be a nose formed from the flames. The fiery hand then thumbed its fiery nose at Lorenzo. Lorenzo gritted his teeth and looked down to see Pyro laughing, almost insanely, at him. Lorenzo clenched his fist. There was a slight trembling in the ground.

Pyro suddenly found himself being launched into the air by amassive column of water. Keeping slight control over the fire, he split apart the burning hand, sending balls of fire raining down on the battle scene.

Roy received a kick from Locust, sending him staggering backwards. He recovered quickly and began to approach Locust again. He suddenly stopped in his tracks. Unintentionally. He looked down to see his feet glued to the ground by a blob of some substance. He looked up to see Locust grinning as usual and Paste standing nearby getting a good laugh.

Locust, being the closest, became Roy's target. Roy's long tail whipped forward and struck Locust in the stomach. Locust coughed as the air was knocked out of him. Simultaneously, one of Pyro's balls of fire passed right in front of Locust's face. Locust's cough had released a cloud of his toxic breath. Roy fortunately didn't have to endure inhaling the haze of pestilence. He did, however, have to endure the sudden mass of flame in his face as Locust's breath reacted with the falling ball of flame.

Mike ducked as a laser was fired at him. He glanced up in time to see Photon fire another laser at him fromagun on hisshoulder. Mike dodged the attack and rubbed his hands together. As he continued to rub them together a metal disc began to form in his hands. It soon became as large as a circular card table. As Photon continued to fire his glowing projectiles, Mike held up his metal creation, shielding himself from the attack. He began to walk towards Photon blocking his repeated gunfire. He stopped as he saw a glowing playing card land at his feet. He stared at it, puzzled for a moment. The next moment, he was thrown backward from the card's explosion. The giant metal disc was flung into the air.

"Looking for something, monsieur?" Mike looked up to see Gambit waving the large metal disc in his hand, "It belongs to you, no?"

The metal disc began to glow as Gambit hurled it at Mike. Mike jumped up, pressing his hands to the ground. Mike raised his hands creating a pillar of steel in front of him. The glowing disc exploded on impact, sending pieces of metal everywhere and contorting the steel pillar.

Towards the middle of the battlefield, Nucleo was unleashing his furyon Magneto. Magneto was mainly lifting himself with his metal suit away from the whip-like beams extending from Nucleo's fingers. Every time Nucleo released another beam at Magneto, one of the pieces of the landscape would explode with a deafening bang.

"You can't fly around like that forever!" Nucleo shouted, "You'll getwhat you deserve!"

Magneto merely raised his eyebrows as a large portion of the metal gate surrounding the mansion property lifted from its position. The gate wrapped itself around Nucleo, pinning his arms to his sides. Nucleo staggered and fell to the ground. Magneto let himself float to the ground. He bent down to Nucleo.

"Whenever you are ready to _give me what I deserve_," Magneto said, mockingly, "Let me know."

In the next instant, the combatants of both sides ceased their fighting as a voice rang through their minds.

"Stop this at once! Not only are you destroying the property of the mansion, but you are disturbing the peace without an acceptable reason!" Xavier's voice echoed through their heads.


	17. Clark

I'm on an updating spree...I don't know...I just feel like updating a lot because I can't find the inspiration to write at the moment...I want to continue, but I feel like I've disappointed all X-Men fans out there because of all my original characters...but I just can't kill them or that kind of thing...It would hurt me...

* * *

Emil Clark stepped from his large helicopter which had landed on the landing pad next to the Mutation Database. His shoulder-length black hair was pulled back into a short ponytail and he wore circular sunglasses. He had already given his instructions to his squadron of thirty men.

"Larson!" Emil shouted.

Kendall Larson stepped from the helicopter behind Emil. Kendall was Emil's second-in-command. She stood half a foot above Emil and had long, dark hair.

"Yes, Boss?" she waited for his instructions.

"I want you to have section three search the grounds for signs of the mutant attack," Emil ordered, "If they find anything, report it to me."

"Yes, Boss," Kendall turned away to carry out his orders.

Emil walked through the entrance of the database. A short man in a lab coat strolled up to him. He wore large glasses and his light brown hair was the complete opposite of neatly combed.

"Glad you could make it, Mr. Clark," the man held out his hand.

"For me this is a privilege, Dr. Nelod," Emil took the man's hand, "I hate nothing more than mutants."

"Yes, we weren't sure when you would be showing up," Nelod said.

"Didn't you receive my letter?" Emil frowned, "It should have been here."

"We never received the letter," Nelod looked confused, "In fact, now that I think about it, we didn't receive our mail two days ago."

"Suspicious," Emil mumbled.

"Yes, I suppose so," Nelod shrugged, "We _did_, however, receive our Mutant Security System along with various other items."

"Show them to me," Emil insisted.

"Of course," Nelod gestured for Emil to follow him.

They walked through the vast hallways, occasionally meeting scientists or members of Emil's squadron. They finally reached a room full of unassembled machinery. Mechanics were standing around looking through the parts, holding assembly instructions. Nelod walked through the room pointing out different parts and explaining their purpose.

"These sense the Mutant Gene and fire at will," Nelod held up a flat piece of artillery, "We can set them to only wound their target or we can take it up a notch and destroy their target completely."

Emil smiled at Nelod's last words, "What are these?"

He had indicated a box of what looked like spiffed-up TV remotes.

"Oh, those," Nelod picked up one of the remotes, "This is the SiestaRay. Guaranteed to disengage the part of the brain that keeps consciousness, but only temporarily."

Emil took the remote from Nelod's hand, "SiestaRay, huh?"

He pressed a button. One of the mechanics dropped to the floor, in a deep slumber.

"Is this company in Mexico, or something?" Emil handed the remote back to Nelod.

"Actually, it's located near the border of Arizona," Nelod replied.

"Same thing," Emil muttered, looking around. He wasn't really concerned with geography, "So why bother putting mutants to sleep…unless it's permanent?"

"Oh, you know," Nelod gave a little chuckle, "For experiments and research. If we make a breakthrough, our budget could deeply increase. We can barely pay for these new devices as it is."

"Well, it's your decision," Emil shrugged, "Shall we continue our tour?"

"Ah, yes, of course," Nelod placed the SiestaRay back in the box and led Emil back into the hallway.

They approached a door with a keypad set into the wall next to it. Nelod cautiously typed the code into the keypad, deliberately leaning over it so that Emil couldn't catch a glimpse of the code.

Emil found no annoyance at this, as the door opened and they walked in. He understood what the eccentric doctor probably felt about letting a mutant-despising man into a mutant-filled room.

"This is where we keep our minor specimens," Nelod explained, "We have another room for the more essential projects."

Emil followed Nelod through the room as the doctor rattled off useless facts about his specimens.

"You may find this interesting," Nelod began as he paused by a clear cylinder which contained a lobster/human that struck its pincer-like hands against the enforced glass surrounding it.

Emil highly doubted that he would find _anything_ in this room interesting.

As Nelod talked endlessly, Emil glanced out the window. He stared, confused, at the window. A large, furry bird was perched on a tree branch watching them. At least, he _thought_ it was watching them. The only thing visible on its face, was a human nose. The rest was covered in grayish-brown fur. Before he could say anything to Nelod, the furry bird flew away.

Emil promised himself to keep his eyes open while he was here. He followed the doctor to another glass cylinder, occasionally glancing at the windows.

* * *

Yeah, boring kind of chapter, but it happens...You know...I really need some feedback...I need to know if my original characters are messing up the story or not...This essential, people... 


	18. Sitting Around

I wish I knew what to write...It's just killing me...I stare at the screen and just don't know what to do...so that's why I'm updating...heh...well, enjoy if you want...

* * *

The students were back in the living room, only this time they had a few more guests.

"So, uh, why'd the chicken cross the road?" Toad asked uncomfortably.

The room was also occupied by the Brotherhood and Nucleo's followers. The entire population of the room acted astonishingly friendly to each other, although considering the telepathic reprimand they had just been given, they probably didn't want to start any more trouble.

"To get to the other side?" Allen guessed.

"To die," Ray muttered, "In the rain."

"The chicken didn't cross the road," Ruben insisted, "It was a rooster. He was shot from a cannon and landed in a chicken farm. Then he helped build a plane and helped the chickens escape from the pie machine."

Toad, Allen, and Ray gave him quizzical looks.

"What?" Ruben shrugged, "Haven't you ever seen Chicken Run?"

Nearby, Frank was teaching Blob how to play chess while onlookers, Travis, Pietro, and Carl occasionally made comments.

The twins were pestering a large group with pointless questions.

"So who do you think is more likely to become president?" Shawn asked Mike who was sitting on one of the couches, "Me, or Aaron?"

Next to Mike, Tony and Nyoko sat with Sludge curled up on Nyoko's lap, snoozing. Jubilee had made herself comfortable at the other end of the couch and Kitty, Louis, Melanie, Erin, and Lance were sitting in various armchairs next to the couch.

"If it makes a difference," Jubilee informed them, "Shawn can make himself blend in with stuff and Aaron can turn into animals."

"Well, in that case," Tony spoke up, "Shawn would make a better president."

"He could hide from the press," Louis commented.

"While we're on the subject," Nyoko said, hesitant to start a conversation, "What can you guys do?"

"Melanie can possess your mind," Shawn announced proudly, before anyone else could speak.

"I can make fireworky…stuff," Jubilee explained.

"I can, like, walk through walls and that kind of stuff," Kitty added.

"I can make, um, _harmless_, pink bubbles," Erin said innocently.

"I'm a human plant," Louis smiled and nodded, a flower growing from the palm of his hand.

"He doesn't get zits," Aaron remarked, picking the flower and sniffing it, "He gets toadstools."

"What can _you_ do?" Shawn asked.

Mike clenched his fist and opened it to reveal a metal ball.

"I create voids," Tony attempted to explain, "Holes in the air."

"I could paralyze you temporarily," Nyoko said, without looking up from stroking Sludge, "Although rather forcefully."

"What do you mean?" Lance asked.

"Maybe I'll demonstrate for you sometime," Nyoko said, closing the conversation.

At a large table, Gambit had opened a game of poker. Paste, Pillbug, and Locust (the normal bunch of card players) were gathered around the table, along with Kyle, Marcus, Jaime, Kurt, Chris, Lorenzo, and Max. Kyle had taken an excessive amount of marbles from a bag under one of the twins' bed. Since none of the players had any money with them, they had decided to use the marbles instead.

"I see your three marbles," Gambit smirked, "And raise you ten more."

"Ten! I fold," Kyle threw his cards to the table as a fly flew past his head.

"Get used to this," Paste informed him, "This is how he always plays."

The fly flew in front of Paste's face. He swung at it with his hands, but missed.

"Doblo," Lorenzo muttered while the fly buzzed around his head.

"If that means 'I fold', then I agree," Kurt threw his cards on the table, while trying to swat the fly with his tail.

The fly suddenly burst into dust as a reddish lightning bolt struck it. It had just flown into Marcus's vicinity.

"Bugs," Marcus grumbled, "I fold."

"Yeah, so do I," Jaime followed suit.

Max, Chris, and Pillbug threw down their cards. Gambit grinned as he took his marbles, "Pair of threes."

Paste slammed his head off the table, "I had a straight!"

"I lost my marbles," Kurt moaned.

Rahne and Roberto walked into the room.

"We didn't hear anything useful," Roberto muttered as the twins looked up eagerly for new information.

"The professor was discussing something," Rahne explained, "but Jean sent us away when she sensed us outside the door."

"Did the professor sound mad?" Bobby asked.

"Not really," Roberto sat down on an armchair. Rahne sat next to him.

"Well, you never really know with the professor," Rogue stood up from the floor and stretched.

* * *

Xavier sat at his desk in his office, surrounded by the X-Men. Magneto and Nucleo sat in front of his desk. Xavier had just finished venting his anger on his guests. 

"There is another matter I wish to bring up with you," Xavier calmed down a little, "We have recently discovered an organization who we believe is against mutants."

"This is not news to me, Charles," Magneto interrupted, "There have been anti-mutant organizations since the time that they first discovered us."

"Yes, I know," Xavier continued, "But this may be different."

"Professor, maybe I should get the letters," Jean offered, "We may be able to explain better."

"Very well," Xavier nodded and Jean left the room.

* * *

The entire population of the living room looked up as Jean walked through the door. They were all bored out of their minds and were eager for some excitement. 

"Jubilee, where are the letters?" Jean asked before anyone could say anything.

"Um, I, what letters?" Jubilee stuttered.

"You know what letters I'm talking about," Jean said, "I read your minds in the Meal Room and found out about them."

"Curses!" Ruben clenched his fist dramatically.

The twins stood up.

"Under the bed!" Shawn shouted.

"In the closet!" Aaron yelled at the same time.

They looked at each other, shrugged, and sat down.

"_I'll_ get them," Jubilee grumbled.

Jubilee followed Jean from the room.

"What? No telling off? No punishment?" Travis scratched his head.

"It'll come," Sam said warningly.

* * *

Jean walked back into Xavier's office followed by Jubilee who was clutching the letters. 

"Ok, you can go back with the other students," Jean said taking the letters.

"I want to stay here," Jubilee protested, "I want to hear some exciting stuff."

Jubilee smiled innocently at the rest of the room's occupants. They just stared back.

"Oh, fine," Jubilee dropped the smile and left the room.

Jean sorted through the letters and took out the more important ones. She split the important letters into two piles and handed them to Magneto and Nucleo.

"Who is this _Clark_?" Nucleo looked up from one of his letters.

"Obviously some mutant hater," Logan muttered.

"It seems to me, Charles," Magneto stated, "that any slightly observant person would notice if a day's worth of mail went missing."

"Uh, maybe it was a Sunday," Alex shrugged.

Scott started to glare at his brother but thought better of it.

"Perhaps we should take a look at this Mutation Database," Magneto suggested.

* * *

Enjoy? I just don't feel as crazy as I used to...I need inspiration...well...have fun...reading...something...I'll probably update soon...since I just don't know what to do... 


	19. Mutation Database Part 1

Hi, folks...I still haven't written anything...I felt real bad for not updating for fifty monthes so I have updated this magical chapter...not that anyone reads this story anymore...but have fun with it...

* * *

Scott was pacing through the hallways, completely against the decision that had just been made.

"What have we done?" he mumbled to himself.

"We have done what we feel is necessary," Xavier rolled around the corner.

Scott jumped at the professor's sudden appearance.

"But, Professor," Scott protested, "Don't you remember the last time we let the students into a mission? They were kidnapped!"

"Think of it as a training session for them," Xavier tried to reassure the pacing mutant, "Besides, they won't be alone."

"Besides the fact that, in my opinion, the students who are going aren't trustworthy," Scott argued, "They put part of the Brotherhood in charge."

"Nyoko Kotara isn't yet a complete Brotherhood member," Xavier told him firmly, "She doesn't show complete loyalty to Magneto at this point."

"You're right," Scott gave up, "You know what you're doing. I shouldn't question the decision."

* * *

Nyoko looked around the jet at the group that had been selected to go on the mission. Tony sat in the corner seat of the jet with his laptop open. The dark reptile called Roy sat nearby, uncomfortable with his settings. The blue-skinned student called Kurt was attempting to explain a Bud Light commercial to the dim-witted student known as Allen. The twins, Aaron and Shawn, were entertaining themselves by hurling super balls at each other. The two X-Men, Storm and Jean Grey, were piloting the jet, but they had been told only to wait until the others returned. Or if there was an emergency.

Their mission was to obtain any information on the Mutation Database that they could find. The difficult thing about the mission was that the more important information would be found deeper inside the building.

"We're almost there," Storm announced from the pilot's seat.

"Is everyone ready?" Nyoko asked the group.

"_We_ are always ready," Shawn said proudly while Aaron nodded.

"Good," Nyoko turned back to the cockpit.

Minutes later they had landed far enough away from the Mutation Database so that they would have no sign of the large jet. Nyoko walked down the ramp followed by the rest of her group.

Nyoko turned to Roy," Where is the nearest sewer entrance?"

Roy crouched down and sniffed, "Follow me."

The group had to run to keep up with Roy as he scurried ahead of them on all fours. It wasn't long before they reached a sewer grate. Roy lifted it up quickly and disappeared inside it.

As soon as the group was in the sewer, Tony opened his laptop and began to type. Within moments, Tony had brought up a layout of the sewer system they were currently in.

Tony took the lead, walking through the sewers as if they were his own backyard.

"Dude, check out the smell," Allen sniffed.

"Yes, quite refreshing," Aaron inhaled deeply and coughed loudly, "Hmm, maybe not."

"Here it is," Tony pointed up at another grate.

Roy scaled the wall easily and opened the grate, checking for anyone above.

"Cost is clear," Roy called down to them.

"Ok, who's first?" Kurt looked around.

"Me, then Tony," Nyoko instructed, "Then the rest of your friends."

Kurt took hold of Nyoko's arm and they disappeared in a cloud of violet smoke. A moment later, Kurt reappeared and he took Tony's arm. They, too, disappeared. Roy was already above them.

Only a minute later, the group stood assembled in the basement of the Mutation Database. Roy had just returned from scouting out the stairwell to the upper levels.

"Two armed men pacing around the doorway," he reported.

"Must be Clark's men," Tony said with a slight smile, "Ready for the usual, Nyoko?"

Nyoko returned his slight smile and looked towards the ventilation system.

"The grate is sealed from the inside," Tony informed them, looking up at the ventilation piping.

Nyoko turned to Allen and Aaron.

"Ah, yes, we know our part," Aaron bowed low.

"Totally," Allen grinned.

Aaron transformed into a large grizzly bear and stood under the ventilation grate. Allen began to climb up Aaron to get to the top. Aaron gave a quiet growl.

"Aaron says to watch the fur," Shawn informed Allen.

When Allen reached the top, he began to squeeze himself through the grating. The rest of the group watched as his unique mutant ability was activated, his body sliding through the thin slits in the grate.

"Ok, dudes, I'm in," Allen's voice echoed in the piping.

"Not so loud," Nyoko warned him, "Your voice will travel through this whole building."

"Oh, sorry, dude," Allen whispered.

There was a soft grinding sound as Allen lifted the grate away. It wasn't long before the rest of the group was crowded into the ventilation system.

"This way," Nyoko began to lead them through the pipes.

They hadn't moved far before they found another grate. Nyoko peered through the thick slits in the grating, "This is interesting."

The twins pushed through the pipe until they could see through the grate.

"_That's_ not very interesting," Shawn gave Nyoko a bewildered stare, "They're just guys with guns."

"Yeah, and lab coats," Aaron agreed.

Nyoko resisted her urge to use violence against the irritating twins as Tony moved to look through the grate.

"These are mutants?" Tony looked amazed.

The twins made another push for the grate, "Mutants? Where?"

One of the men with guns looked around as if he had heard something.

If looks could kill…the twins would have been dead. Nyoko glared furiously at them. The twins simultaneously made 'zipping the mouth' hand gestures.

Nyoko started to turn away so they could continue through the pipe. She froze when she heard a loud clang from somewhere below. She turned around and saw with horror that the grate was gone. And so was Shawn.

Without speaking, she looked at Aaron, who pointed to where the grate used to be. Nyoko moved back to the hole and looked over the edge to the floor below.

Two men with guns were searching around the fallen grate. One of the scientists was also walking around them.

"Oh, I'm sure it's just rust problems," the scientist assured the guards, "We don't have the money to keep this place in good quality."

Nyoko quickly drew back away from the hole as one of the guards looked up at the pipe.

"Well, do what you like," the scientist's voice drifted up into the pipe, "I'll be getting back to work."

Nyoko risked another look over the edge of the hole. The guards were finally moving back to their stations. Before Nyoko could move away from the hole again, a movement caught her eye. It was the fallen grate. It suddenly flew from its position on the floor towards her. She caught it as it entered the pipe. Words were etched into the paint.

_Oops_

_Blew our cover_

_Sorry_

_Having a look around_

_Meet you guys later_

_Keep them in line Aaron_

"Fool," Nyoko muttered as the rest of the group read the grate, "Let's keep moving."

* * *

Meanwhile, Shawn, having camouflaged himself, was in the room directly below them. And it was indeed full of mutants. But they weren't remotely human-looking.

Shawn crept between the containers of enforced glass. He occasionally examined the weird creatures enclosed inside the containers. He stopped moving when he heard two of the guards talking.

"Personally, I don't think it's rust problems," one of the guards muttered, "Especially here where the high security specimens are kept."

"Well, whatever these scientists want to do," the other guard agreed, "It's their joint. As long as we get paid."

"High security area, eh?" Shawn thought to himself, "Difficult to resist mischief."

He crept to the entrance of the high security area and stopped next to the locked door. He grinned as he knocked on the door. One of the scientists looked startled and walked to the door. His face grew bewildered as he looked around outside the door as he opened it. Shawn, however, was able to slip out of the room, into the hallway.

He walked quietly forward a few feet. And stopped. A flat piece of artillery was mounted on the wall in front of him. Shawn's unseen face paled as the artillery turned to face him. There was a few moments as the weapon focused on Shawn, who was still camouflage. Then, sensing the mutant gene in Shawn, the weapon began to fire sizzling bolts of energy. Shawn dived out of the way just in time. Five seconds, later, the weapon let out a shrill alarm which seemed to spread throughout the building.

Shawn ran back to the high security door. Without hesitating, he knocked on the door again. The same scientist opened the door and looked around. His face grew red with anger while Shawn slipped back into the room.

Shawn quickly hid behind a giant glass tube and caught his breath. The guards would definitely be after him now. He glanced to his right. He saw a familiar form sitting inside a large glass cage. Checking to see if anyone was watching, he picked up a nearby wrench from a toolbox.

Everyone was too busy panicking from the alarm to notice Shawn hurl the wrench at the glass cage containing what looked like a giant disco ball with four legs and a lower jaw.

* * *

Dr. Kriggs gritted his teeth as he heard someone knock on the door for the third time. He yanked open the door and shouted, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

"There's really no need to shout," a fellow scientist stood outside the door, having no idea what Kriggs was so mad about, "I'm here to help look for the loose mutant."

"Fine," Dr. Kriggs left the door open for the other man, but when he glanced back, the other man was running away down the hall.

Confused, Dr. Kriggs turned back to the room. He froze. One of the specimens was charging right for him. A huge, sparkly-shelled specimen, that is. Kriggs tried to run, but he had waited too long. He soon found himself being thrown backwards through the air. The impact with the wall left a dent and paralyzed the doctor. Kriggs winced with pain as he hit the floor, unable to move.

* * *

Shawn watched the shiny creature knock the high security door from its hinges and leave the room. He'd wreaked enough havoc here. Time to go. He hoped the others had found something useful…because he had just cut off their spying time.

* * *

The six mutants in the ventilation system jumped as they heard they siren go off. Nyoko gritted her teeth. She would bet anything that Shawn was the one who had set off the alarm.

"Ah, I can hear Shawn's monkey business," Aaron said putting his hand to his ear.

"Monkeys?" Allen scratched his head.

"More commonly known as tomfoolery," Aaron informed him.

"Tom's been fooled?" Allen still didn't get it.

"Yes," Aaron said dramatically, "Poor Tom _has_ been fooled."

"Quiet," Nyoko ordered.

"Why?" Aaron asked, "No one'll be able to hear us with all that noise going on down there."

Nyoko gave him a quick glare and turned back ahead, "The only way we'll be able to get information now is to go down there."

"Maybe most of the people are looking for Shawn," Kurt offered.

"We'll see, now won't we," Roy closed the conversation.

They continued through the pipes until they came to another vent. Looking through the vent, Nyoko saw what looked like a room filled with screens. There was a scientist and two guards in the room.

"I hope your professor has trained you well," Nyoko said to the three students.

Without waiting for an answer, Nyoko kicked the grate which fell into the room. The three humans were overcome with shock as Nyoko dropped through the hole, into the room. One of the guards got over his shock quickly and lifted his gun. Nyoko jumped over the guard and kicked him in the back of the head. The guard dropped his gun as he stumbled forward. Nyoko raised her hands in front of her as the scientist and the two guards turned towards her. Before any of the humans could make a move, bright yellow electricity began to flow from Nyoko's hands. The electricity struck each of the humans, leaving them immobile. Nyoko allowed herself a smile as she watched the three humans stand motionless, unable to move.

"Wow, that was quick," Kurt looked surprised as he dropped in followed by the rest of the group, excluding Shawn.

Nyoko said nothing as she approached the security screens. Many of them showed chaos.

"It seems as if your foolish brother has released one of their specimens," Nyoko said to Aaron, "A big one."

"Yup, that sounds like Shawn," Aaron agreed as he spotted the screen that showed the shiny-shelled creature plowing down guards. Aaron walked over to the frozen scientist. He waved his hand in front of his face, "Can he still hear me?"

"Yes, but he can't do anything about it," Nyoko informed him.

Aaron grinned and brought his face right up next to the scientist's face, "HA HA!"

"He'll be able to move eventually," Nyoko warned him.

"So we should hurry," Roy finished.

Nyoko pointed to a screen, "Tony, you take the students and get some information in this room. Roy, you follow me. We'll find Shawn."

"Oh, no you don't," Aaron said loudly, "I'm coming to find Shawn, too."

"Fine," Nyoko agreed. There wasn't time to argue.

The group left the room, Aaron tipping over the two guards as they passed. Kurt and Allen followed Tony down a hallway. Nyoko, Roy, and Aaron ran the other way, in search of Shawn.

* * *

I know you all...meaning no one...since no one is there...well, dust bunnies, thanks for sticking with this story...since I'm such a failure...maybe I'll write some stuff this summer...we'll see...


	20. Mutation Database Part 2

Here's the thrilling second part to the Mutation Database chapters...this is a good one for you action-lovers...and just as an interesting fact: tomorrow is the aniversary of this story...which is disheartening for me, since I should have more done by now...but enjoy...

* * *

Meanwhile, Shawn was debating leaving the high security room. He didn't want to encounter another gun mounted on the wall. Looking around at all the glass containers, he debated freeing another specimen. Before he made up his mind, a group of six heavily armed guards ran into the room, obviously searching for him. Still in camouflage, Shawn crept from the room.

Once again, the flat artillery on the wall noticed him and began firing, this time without the alarm, as it was still blaring. Shawn ran the other way, only to discover another gun on the wall. Shawn ducked into the nearest room. Which happened to be full of scientists. Luckily, they couldn't see Shawn in his camouflaged form.

"Guess I'll hang around here for a while," Shawn thought to himself.

* * *

Tony stopped outside the room that Nyoko had instructed him to go to. He turned to the two students with him, "If I'm correct, you both have different ways of entering rooms."

They both nodded.

"Good," Tony continued, "Allen, you take the door, Kurt you take the right of the door, I'll take the left."

The three mutants got into position.

"On three," Tony held his hand in front of him, "One…two…three!"

Kurt disappeared as he teleported into the room. Allen easily slid under the door, his skin molding to fit through the small space. Tony quickly made a movement with his hand. The wall in front of him opened as a hole materialized.

The five scientists were too startled to take action as the three mutants entered the room. Kurt knocked two out cold with a kick to their heads. Tony created a void under two more of the scientists and they fell to the basement below. The last scientist tried to run from the room, but Allen slid out on the floor. As the scientist's foot made contact with Allen's skin, his feet slipped out from under him. His head made a loud thud when it hit the floor, taking his consciousness.

"Over here," Tony gestured them to the computer. Kurt opened a file cabinet next to the computer.

"Shall I take a few of these?" Kurt asked innocently.

"Sure, why not," Tony shrugged, "The more information the better."

"Dude, is this important?" Allen picked up a stack of floppy disks.

"Give me one of those," Tony took one off of the stack and put it in the computer.

"What are you doing?" Allen asked.

"I'm stealing information," Tony told him, "Oh, good it's an empty disk."

Tony began copying files on the computer and moving them to the disk. Kurt had taken a number of folders from the file cabinet.

"Dude, I'll go see if anyone's coming," Allen went over to Tony's hole in the wall.

"Almost done," Tony said to himself.

"Is there anyone coming?" Kurt asked still facing the file cabinet.

"Aw, dude, I'm so tired," Allen replied.

"What?" Kurt turned around just as Allen dropped to the floor.

Right outside the hole was a group of three scientists and two guards. The closest scientist had a TV remote-looking device in his hand.

* * *

Nyoko, Roy, and Aaron ran down the hallway, not meeting much resistance. There was an occasional guard or scientist, which they easily took care of. They soon reached places in the hallway, where flat-looking guns on the wall would fire at them. These gave them more trouble and it took them more time to dispose of them.

When they finally reached the high security room, they easily entered through the hole where the door once stood.

"Shawn should be in here," Nyoko said to the other two mutants, "There's the broken cage."

Upon hearing new voices, six guards stopped their searching and began advancing on the intruders. Nyoko quickly took action and jumped behind one of the glass tubes. Two of the guards began to move in her direction.

Roy went on the offensive and moved in to attack one of the guards. The guard lifted his gun and began firing off shots, each time failing to hit Roy. Roy slid across the floor, twisting to avoid the bullets being fired at him. Soon, there was nowhere for the guard to go. Roy whipped his tail around, pulling the guard's feet out from under him. Before the guard could hit the ground, however, Roy landed a kick to his midsection sending him careening into one of the large glass tubes, which shattered.

The creature that rolled out of the damaged tube looked like a dark ball of plasma with eyes. As soon as it hit the floor, it began sprouting legs and scuttling across the floor. The creature spotted one of the guards who was aiming his gun towards Roy. The creature launched itself through the air and landed on the guard's face. The guard began yelling in pain as the plasma-ball's legs transformed into pincers and began snapping at the guard's face.

Aaron had transformed into a bright blue squid that sported a pair of slipper-like feet along with its tentacles. The two guards that had approached him now backed away slowly.

"What, do you think I can't see you?" Aaron scoffed, although all that came out was a high-pitched screech, "I can see just as well as I did when I was…human!"

Aaron stretched out two of his tentacles and grabbed the guards. After being swung about quite a bit, the guards found themselves flying through the air as Aaron let them go. Two more glass tubes shattered as the guards collided with them.

Nyoko was slipping between the tubes while the last two guards ran after her with their weapons ready. Everything looked distorted as she looked through the glass containers. She stopped as she saw one of the guards through a series of the glass tubes. The moment he stepped from behind the tubes, he was rendered helpless by a bolt of bright yellow electricity. The position he was in, however, wasn't balanced enough to keep him standing. His immobile form tipped over and collided with one of the large glass tubes. And the tube went down with him. The tube bumped into the tube next to it and gravity took over.

As Nyoko walked through the remains of the tubes, she spotted the other guard. He had been crushed by one of the tubes. There was now a plethora of different creatures roaming about the room.

"It's time to go," Nyoko said to Roy and the blue squid which transformed back into Aaron.

* * *

Shawn spotted a pile of metal tiles lying to the right of one of the scientists. He wondered if the tiles were thick enough to resist the attacks from the guns on the wall. He crept to the pile of tiles quietly. He froze as he brushed against the scientist.

"What?" the scientist looked to his right, seeing, of course, nothing.

Shawn acted quickly and tapped the scientist on his left shoulder. The scientist's head spun to his left. The scientist's expression went from fear to annoyance.

"Stop playing about, Riffen," the scientist scolded the scientist next to him, "There's work to be done."

The scientist known as Riffen gave the scientist a confused look, "What is this nonsense you speak of, Druppins? I have done nothing wrong."

"Don't play innocent with me, Riffen!" Druppins said, his voice growing louder.

"Riffen and Druppins," Shawn thought to himself, "I'm so glad I'm a Kerr."

As Riffen and Druppins continued to shout at each other, Shawn began to drag the metal tile across the floor. The other scientists were too interested in the shouting to notice the escaping tile.

Once Shawn was back in the hallway, the gun on the wall spotted him again. But this time, Shawn held up the metal tile. The blasts from the gun simply left burn marks on the metal. Using the blocking technique, Shawn moved quickly down the hallway, looking like a floating metal tile in his camouflage form.

* * *

Kurt and Tony stood frozen to the spot, not daring to move. The three scientists and the two guards had moved into the room, the first scientist still pointing the remote at the two conscious mutants. Tony and Kurt looked towards the door as another man accompanied by two more guards walked in. The man had his shoulder-length hair pulled back and he wore circular sunglasses.

"So these are the filthy beings that have caused this disaster," the man said loathingly.

"Actually, we believe there are more," one of the scientists said.

The man hesitated a moment before taking a two-way radio from his belt, "Larson! Form a squad and find the rest of the scum!"

The man replaced the radio and turned to one of the scientists, "Take your sleeping specimen and put it somewhere. I get these ones since you didn't take them for yourselves."

"But…" the scientist started.

The scientist received a glare from the man, "Yes, Clark."

The scientist moved to pick up the unconscious Allen, but when he tried to lift him, Allen's skin slid right through his fingers.

"_You're_ the scientist, you figure it out," Clark said, irritated, before the scientist could state his problem.

Tony and Kurt watched as the man called Clark walked towards them. Clark stopped around five feet away, obviously not wanting to get close to the mutants that he loathed so much.

"Mutants," Clark said, "You're only two of the countless creatures that exist in this world. If I could, I'd kill you all right now. But, unfortunately, that's not possible, now is it?"

* * *

Nyoko ran down the hallway, closely followed by Roy and Aaron. Any of the security guns that were mounted on the wall were destroyed quickly.

As the trio rounded a corner, they nearly collided with a group of armed men led by a tall, dark-haired woman.

"Take them alive," the woman ordered without hesitation.

The men began pulling tranquilizer pistols from their belts. There was no choice for the mutants except to fight or get shot with a tranquilizer dart.

Aaron quickly morphed into an armchair-sized, scorpion-like creature with several extra arms. These extra arms attached themselves to the ceiling while the regular arms began making threatening motions towards the guards.

Roy immediately attacked, first using his tail to eliminate his opponent's balance. Once his targets were off their feet, Roy had no trouble taking them from consciousness. The problem was the numerous amount of replacements that kept appearing.

Nyoko, on the other hand, was occupied with her attacker, the woman who led the guards. Nyoko had quickly kicked the woman's tranquilizer pistol from her grasp and was now locked in combat with her. Nyoko was surprised at the woman's agility and skill with hand-to-hand combat. Nyoko took a kick to the stomach and she doubled over as she tried to quickly regain her breath. It wasn't quickly enough, however, as the skilled woman knocked Nyoko's feet out from under her. Nyoko lay on the floor, breathing hard.

"We should have the mutants in custody very soon," the woman began speaking into a two-way radio as she walked towards her fallen tranquilizer pistol.

"Good, Larson," came the response, "Bring them to me when they are taken care of."

The woman, Larson, replaced the radio on her belt and picked up the tranquilizer pistol. Nyoko's eyes widened and she realized that she had to do something quickly. Bright yellow electricity began to flow from Nyoko's hands as Larson pulled the trigger. The mobilized tranquilizer dart collided with the flowing electricity and was hurled off in another direction. A guard toppled to the floor as the wayward dart entered his skin.

Larson looked alarmed and reached for another dart from her belt. This was the perfect amount of time for Nyoko. Nyoko jumped up from the floor and released several volts of electricity from her outstretched palms.

Nyoko's satisfaction turned to shock as Larson drew from her belt a thin metal cylinder instead of the tranquilizer dart. As Nyoko's electricity struck the cylinder, the flashing bolts were deflected back towards Nyoko. Nyoko absorbed as much of her own energy as she could as she was thrown backward once more.

* * *

Clark had been rambling endlessly on his loathing of mutants for quite some time now, and Kurt and Tony were feeling like joining Allen in his slumber. Tony glanced back at Clark, who was talking about some gruesome way to do away with mutants. Behind Clark, the hole where the other scientists and guards stood, something caught Tony's eye. There had been a flicker at the edges of the wall where the void ended. Tony couldn't hold back his grin.

"Yes, if it were up to me," Clark continued, "I would…,"

Clark stopped talking as he noticed the grin on Tony's face. Clark frowned and glanced behind him. The situation dawned on him as he noticed a little flicker on the edges of the hole.

"Watch yourselves!" he yelled, too late. Tony's void expelled the last of its energy and the wall closed back up where it used to be. The four guards were now trapped outside the room, while one scientist was still trying to pick up Allen and one was trapped inside the wall, his torso poking out of the metal paneling. The last scientist had been startled by Clark's sudden outburst and had jumped and backed himself into a corner. Kurt took the confusion to his advantage and removed the consciousness from the two scientists who were fully in the room.

Clark who had been watching Kurt with astonishment and panic, didn't see Tony shove a large, wheeled file cabinet in his direction. Clark stumbled into the wall as the file cabinet made contact with him. As he looked up from his position on the floor, he watched as Kurt took hold of Allen and Tony and teleported from the room. Clark got up as fast as he could and grabbed a two-way radio from one of the fallen scientists.

"Larson!" Clark shouted furiously into the radio, "The mutant scum are getting away!"

"Hold on, Boss!" Larson's voice came back, rather out of breath, "I'm in the middle of…"

There was an exclamation of pain on Larson's side of the connection.

"Larson!" Clark shouted into the radio, "Larson!"

After receiving no reply, Clark hurled the radio against the wall, spraying the room with sparks and other spare parts. Clark ran to the door, quickly opening it.

"Wait! What about me?" the scientist trapped in the wall protested.

"You're the scientist! YOU figure it out!" Emil Clark shouted and immediately left the room and hurried down the hallway.

* * *

Emil found Kendall Larson lying on the floor along with several other unconscious guards, a few just getting up. Kendall was rubbing her head as she sat up in pain.

"What happened?" Emil asked impatiently.

"We had the mutants under control," Kendall started, "until some invisible force showed up. I didn't even know what hit me."

Emil showed no sympathy as he snatched another two-way radio from a nearby guard.

"Dome!" Emil shouted into the radio.

"No need to shout, boss," an irritable voice came over the radio.

"There's no time for your complaints, Dome!" Emil yelled frustrated, "Ready my helicopter!"

"Yeah, sure," Dome's voice replied.

Emil tossed the radio back to the guard and turned to Kendall.

"Gather a squadron and follow me," Emil ordered, "We're going to catch those mutants!"

* * *

Not bad, right? Anyway, I hope to get more done with this highly unobserved story...I thinkI have **one** reader as of now...that's pretty sad...


	21. Return to the Mansion

Ok, this is probably the most boring chapter in this entire story...so if this has been a boring book for you, this will be complete torture, but seeing as how there are minimal readers, there isn't much probability that anyone is bored...anyway, this chapter is only necessary because our heroes needed some way to get back to the mansion, so this is it...have fun...

* * *

The mutants ran through the trees, away from the Mutation Database, Tony carrying the sleeping Allen. Many of the exotic beings that had been released inside the Mutation Database had fled from the building, some of the larger ones making rubble of walls in the process.

"I think you owe someone an apology," Shawn said to Nyoko as they ran.

"For what?" Nyoko asked scornfully.

"You were calling me names," Shawn got a proud grin on his face, "And I just saved your life."

"I'm not giving you an apology," Nyoko snapped, ending the conversation.

The mutants finally reached the X-Jet where Storm and Jean had been waiting.

"Oh, no," Jean groaned, sensing what had just happened from the other mutants' minds, "I take it we need to leave quickly."

"Unless you've got a death wish," Roy commented humorlessly.

The jet was ready to leave in a few moments time and they were soon in the air. They all sat quietly for a while.

"So did you get what we needed?" Storm asked, breaking the silence.

"We obtained a small collection of files from a cabinet," Tony explained, "Not to mention the disk we have, which is stocked with information."

Before Storm could respond, Jean interrupted, "There's something on our radar!"

"What is it?" Storm asked quickly.

"It's another aircraft!" Jean said, worried.

"It's probably that guy who almost caught us in that room," Kurt guessed.

"You know, this never would have happened," Nyoko began, irritated, "If _someone_ hadn't ruined the plan."

Shawn gave an innocent grin and batted his eyelashes.

"Hold on everyone," Jean warned. A split second later, the jet lurched forward as it soared away from the trailing aircraft.

Minutes later, all signs of the enemy aircraft had disappeared from the radar.

"Is everyone alright?" Jean asked.

"I've been better," Kurt mumbled.

"We're almost to the Mansion," Storm informed them.

* * *

Great stuff, right? Riiight...anyway, I'll update as soon as I can...I'm running out of finished chapters...plus I'll be gone next week...so enjoy your Kernl-free week...


	22. Storytime with the Twins

Ok, this chapter's a little better than the last one, but it's not THAT much better...anyway, I apparently have TWO readers now...except I'm debating whether or not Pyrotic should count, since, well, someone already reads this stuff...confusing, right? Think nothing of it! Just read and...stuff...

* * *

The entire population of the Xavier Institute had been waiting anxiously for the small party of mutants to return from their mission. So, obviously, there was a huge crowd of students, Brotherhood members, and Nucleo followers waiting for the hangar door to open as the X-Jet landed.

"Everyone move!" Storm shouted as the hangar door opened.

"Good tidings of joy to you, too," Erin crossed her arms.

"We just need to get Allen to the medical center!" Storm parted the huge mass of people, followed by Tony, still carrying Allen.

"I knew we shouldn't have let the students go!" Scott ground his teeth, frustrated.

"Cool yer jets, man, he's just sleeping," Roy said in a you're-too-stressed tone.

The twins left the hangar last, bowing and waving, like they had just saved the entire world.

"Thank you, thank you," Shawn said loudly, "Please hold your applause!"

"No need to wallow in our greatness!" Aaron said, his arms spread wide.

"Give me a break," Ray muttered.

"What happened?" Bobby could barely contain himself, "How did it go?"

"Ah, I think I feel a song coming on," Aaron said, glancing at Shawn and taking a deep breath.

"NO!" Shawn shouted, "Please, not that! We'll just gather in the living room and have a little story time."

While the Xavier, Magneto, Nucleo, and the rest of the X-Men were taking Allen to the medical center, the students, Brotherhood members, and Nucleo followers assembled in the living room to hear the twins' story.

"Hurry up and tell the story," Pietro said, nearly unintelligibly, "We don't have all day."

"Hold your horses," Shawn made himself comfortable on a couch.

"Secure your stallions," Aaron added as he sat down next to his brother.

"Protect your ponies," Shawn grinned.

"Seize your steeds," Aaron said proudly.

"ENOUGH!" Photon shouted.

There was a brief silence while the twins looked at each other, realized what they were there for, and began the story.

"Ok, so after we landed," Shawn began, "We went to the basement of their place. Then we went, all sneaky-like, into the vents. It's awfully cramped in there. So anyway, we crawled in there for a while, rather boring if you ask me, until we saw a room with weird-looking mutants in it."

"Here's the good part!" Aaron cut in, "Shawn fell through the vent and made himself camouflage while the guards were checking stuff out. Then Shawn left us a note on the grate and told us he was going to have a look around. So we kept going."

"Yeah, while they were crawling through those cramped pipes," Shawn began telling his side of the story, "I was checking out our interesting mutant friends. But after I discovered that the guns in the halls could see me in my camo, I took drastic measures. I freed one of those poor caged beasts. Yeah, well, he took it from there and tore the place apart, took out the wall and a couple of scientists. But, you remember those guns, right? Well, when they see a mutant…for example, me…they turn on a siren. So a bunch of guards, armed to the earlobes, came in looking for me…I mean the mutant who set off the alarm, silly me…So I went into the hallway, back with the guns, so I went into another room, full of scientists…and hung out for a while."

"So that's what you were up to," Aaron scratched his chin, "Well, after we heard the alarm we went down into one of the rooms, Nyoko basically dominated the whole bunch of guys in the room…"

Nyoko didn't look as if she wanted a compliment from the twins.

"So then we split up, me, Nyoko, and Death Lizard went looking for Shawn," Aaron continued.

"It's Roy," Roy muttered, "Not _Death Lizard_."

"Oh, I get to tell part of the story!" Kurt exclaimed, "Me, Tony, and Allen went to a room with a lot of files and computers and stuff. We took a bunch of info until a bunch of scientists showed up and put Allen to sleep. Their leader was some guy with shades. And I think he was…CLARK!"

Most of the room either jumped or gasped, except Ruben, who let out a deafening shriek. Afterwards, Ruben chuckled at everyone else.

"So you met Clark face to face?" Rogue asked.

"How do you even know it's Clark?" Jaime questioned.

"Where's your proof?" Louis inquired.

"How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" the twins turned piercing gazes upon Kurt.

"Uh," Kurt graced the twins with a confused look before continuing, "Well, he spent ages telling us how much he hated mutants and how he would like to kill them and a lot of stuff like that. But then he got distracted and we got away."

"Oh, yeah, sometime during that," Aaron started again, "We got in a big fight with a bunch of guards."

"And here's where I come in," Shawn's face broke into a smile, while Nyoko groaned, "I plundered a big metal tile from the bunch of scientists and protected myself from the guns. And then, I broke into their guard fight and saved Nyoko's life, HA, admit it!"

"No," Nyoko mumbled.

"Well, that's when we got away," Shawn shrugged.

"Yeah, we got on the plane," Aaron continued, "And I guess that Clark guy started chasing after us in some aircraft, because there was something in our radar following us."

"You mean like that?" Toad's pale face paled even more.

The entire room stared at him bewildered. Toad lifted his hand and pointed out the window. The mutants followed his gaze. Toad's feelings immediately spread throughout the room.

Outside, there was a massive helicopter just reaching the mansion.

* * *

Great Scott! What will happen now? Well,you'll have to wait a week, because I won't be around...plus the next chapter is actually unfinished...which means, from now on, you'll have to wait longer for my chapters to come out...because before they were all written and ready to be updated...so I'll leave you with a quote from an excellent Michael Keaton movie:

Doug 4: C'mon up, Steve! I'm spittin' on bugs!


	23. Attack on the Mansion Part 1

It has been at least half a year since I updated this unpopular story...but now, here's a chapter with lots of action if that's what you readers enjoy...you know...all 0 of you readers...but have fun...

* * *

There was a moment of shock before the mass chaos ensued. Couches and tables were flipped as the mutants raced for the door.

"Someone get the professor!" Bobby shouted through the panic.

"It's alright," the professor's calm voice filled the minds of frantic mutants, "I am already aware of the situation. Please stay calm. We must only use force if absolutely necessary."

"Absolutely necessary?" Ray scoffed, "I'm pretty sure the only reason they're here is to kill us."

Everyone flowed through the hallways, separating and getting as far away from the living room as possible.

Down in the lower levels of the mansion, the X-Men were making their way from the medical center, followed by Magneto and Nucleo. Logan already had his claws out and Scott had exchanged his sunglasses with his visor. Tom was carrying a snoring Allen.

"Remember, we don't want to create an enemy for ourselves," Xavier warned.

"No offense, Chuck," Logan said sardonically, "But these guys probably aren't here for tea and crumpets."

"I'm going to have to concur with your feral beast," Magneto said coolly, "They will see no reason not to slaughter the entire population of this institute."

Nucleo hesitated before he spoke, "As much as I hate to say it, that is a good point. I can't see any way of making peace."

Xavier sighed, "Well, do what you must. I only feel that there must be a better way to solve this."

* * *

Packrat was roaming around the lower hallways of the school when a nearby door was blasted from its hinges. Afraid, but curious, Packrat crept to the smoldering doorway. Suddenly, a heavily armed man pushed through the smoke and immediately spotted Packrat.

"Freeze, mutie!" the man shouted.

"Brine not cold," Packrat said, backing away.

"I said freeze!" the man flicked a switch on his firearm. It emitted a short, high-pitched noise as it heated up.

"Not cold!" Packrat shouted, then turned around and scurried away down the hall.

The man fired a few inaccurate shots before shouting to his men.

"Get in here, men! Shoot to kill!"

* * *

Mike, Ben, and Pillbug were running down a hallway, when suddenly one of the windows shattered, spraying them with broken glass. The three mutants looked up to see five heavily armed men climbing through the window. The mutants hesitated only a moment before realizing the danger.

"Glad to see you could join us," Pillbug gave a cold smile before curling into his iron orb.

Two of the men pointed their weapons at the sphere just as it began rolling towards them. The two men opened fire, but realized their mistake soon afterwards. Pillbug had begun to roll towards them, building up speed. As the bullets collided with Pillbug's spinning metal shell, they ricocheted, spraying the men with their own ammunition. They were then knocked to the floor as Pillbug slammed into them.

Mike rubbed his hands together and soon felt the cool metal form between his palms. A large, shining disc began to take form in his hands. He held it up in front of him as two of the other men began firing on him. Out of the corner of his eye, Mike saw Ben quickly remove a flashlight from his belt. Turning it on, Ben raised his hand, a ball of light energy following it from the flashlight. Mike's assailants soon found themselves hurled against the wall by a big handful of illumination. Mike took this to his advantage and launched his metal disc like a frisbee, knocking two men out the broken window and taking the consciousness from another.

Pillbug had uncurled from his metal orb and was currently slamming one of the two remaining men's head into the floor. The other man, noticing Pillbug, quickly drew a small handgun from his belt, having lost his other weapon. The man on the floor had submerged into unconsciousness and Pillbug was getting to his feet. He looked up and frowned, looking into the business end of the remaining man's firearm. A slight grin appeared on the man's face as he aimed his pistol between Pillbug's eyes.

There was a sudden glint of light and the man dropped the gun, clutching his hand in agony. Mike moved his fingers together, creating another ninja star. Pillbug was back in his globe in an instant. The wounded man didn't even know what hit him as the steel sphere slammed into his knees, leaving him unable to walk.

"Let's get out of here," Ben gestured for the other two to follow him.

* * *

Bobby, Rogue, Louis, and Jubilee ducked behind a large potted plant in the hallway. A large group of armed men had swarmed through the windows and were coming after them.

"Is that your idea of a hiding spot?" Mosquito asked behind them.

"Follow us," Pyro gestured for them to stand, "We know where we're going."

"We LIVE here!" Jubilee said exasperated.

"Who cares!" Carl ran around the corner, "They're coming!"

Pyro ran off down the opposite hallway, Mosquito hovering after him, waving for them to follow. Carl and the students started after them, just as the men rounded the corner.

"There they are!" one of the men shouted, "Clark wants them dead! Fire at will!"

Pyro spun around at the end of the hallway.

"They're not going to make it," Mosquito said persistently, with a hint of sorrow, "We need to go while we can."

"No," Pyro hesitated, "They were my friends once."

Pyro ran back towards the men who were moving into position. Mosquito lingered for a moment, thinking about Pyro's change of heart. He shook his head and hovered after him.

"Down with the mutants!" one of the men screamed hysterically.

Bobby continuously created small ice walls, which could only withstand a few shots from the men.

"I can't keep this up for too much longer," Bobby sighed, "This is taking all the energy out of me."

Suddenly, a bat-shaped fireball flew past Bobby's head. One of the men fell to the ground, in flames. Several more fiery bats hurtled towards the attacking men who dove to the ground, eventually bursting into flame. One of the men quickly pulled out an ultramodern machine gun and opened fire. Before any of the students could react, an oncoming fire-bat swelled into a massive wall of fire. The man stopped firing as he watched all his previous shots disintegrate into the air as the wall of fire melted them instantly. His shock quickly changed to horror as he realized that the wall of fire had not stopped in its path. He was soon ablaze like his comrades.

The students got to their feet. Bobby approached Pyro.

"Hey, thanks, John," Bobby smiled at the former student.

"Yeah," John said uncomfortably and turned around, "Let's go."

Bobby started to speak to Pyro again, but Rogue caught his shoulder.

"Let him go, Bobby," she said softly, "He needs to deal with his feelings."

Bobby nodded and followed Pyro along with the others.

* * *

"DUCK!" Aaron and Shawn dropped to the floor as a series of gunshots rang out through the hallway.

Melanie and Steve followed the twins' lead and crouched on the floor. A group of armed men began to advance towards the students.

"We must fight!" Shawn shouted.

"No, wait!" Melanie grabbed Shawn's ankle, "We could die."

Shawn looked at his brother. The brothers seemed to ponder Melanie's words.

"She's right," Shawn said.

"Normally, I'd say you have your own reasons for that remark," Aaron said, "but this time I agree."

"So what do we do?" Steve asked urgently as the troops moved closer to them.

Shawn thought for a moment, "I've never tried this before."

"Tried what?" Aaron asked.

"Come closer," Shawn said to them, "I need to touch you."

"What!" Aaron stammered, "Shawn, you dirty beast, what's gotten into you?"

"Just come here!" Shawn commanded.

The other three mutants gathered around Shawn, who embraced them all in a tight hug.

"Uh, Shawn, this is real nice and all," Aaron said, perplexed, "But don't you think you're being a little emotional?"

"It worked!" Shawn said, excited.

The other three looked at him, bewildered.

"We're all camouflaged!" Shawn said joyfully.

"Whoa," Steve said, amazed, "He's right."

Suddenly, a door between the students and the oncoming men flew open. The hulking form of Hammerhead lumbered into the hallway.

"I've got an idea," Aaron exclaimed and transformed into a rat. Shawn's camouflage left him immediately. The rat scurried down the hallway and between Hammerhead's legs, reaching the first of the men. Without hesitating, Aaron leaped forward and bit down hard on the man's leg. The man screamed in surprise and pain while Aaron scuttled back to his friends.

"Now watch and…," Aaron transformed back into himself, "Well, maybe we shouldn't watch. This could get messy."

Sure enough, Hammerhead instantly caught the scent of the wounded man's blood. Moments later, Hammerhead was on top of the men, who were forced to endure the wild mutant's feeding frenzy.

"Ok, let's go," Aaron said..

Shawn, Steve, and Melanie shimmered back into sight as Shawn disabled his mutant power. The four students took off down the hallway, away from the gruesome scene behind them. They reached a staircase as they rounded the corner. They started to go down, but stopped quickly as a lone soldier approached them from the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey! Stop!" the man shouted, "You can't run forever!"

"He's right," Shawn said shrugging.

"What?" Melanie exclaimed.

"So we let him shoot us?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Now which one was it?" Shawn asked his brother, ignoring Steve.

"I think it was the fourteenth," Aaron said calmly, "That was the number of days Summers gave us cleaning duty for the Jell-O socks."

"Oh, that's right," Shawn said, musing, "That was a good one."

The soldier walked closer, keeping his gun focused on the mutants. Suddenly, the chandelier above the staircase gave a loud clunk and plunged down towards the soldier. The soldier looked up, alarmed. He let out a shriek and covered his head. A foot above the man's head, the chandelier abruptly stopped and rocketed back towards the ceiling. Realizing that he was safe, the man stood up and smiled maliciously.

"It looks like you're not so lucky after all," he said, lifting his weapon.

The soldier's face changed suddenly from malevolence to stunned pain as the chandelier collided with his head. He slumped to the floor unconscious.

"What just happened?" Steve scratched his head.

"Fourteenth step," Aaron said matter-of-factly, "Triggers the release of the chandelier, which is restrained by a high quality bungee cord, which when stretched, activates our scissor-slinger, which is timed to release the paper-cutting blades in such a way that the bungee cord is severed as the chandelier is propelled back up."

"Which basically means the chandelier falls on its second drop," Shawn finished, "Resulting in what you have just witnessed."

"I love us, Shawn," Aaron sighed happily.

"Oh, so do I," Shawn grinned, but then turned to Melanie, "But I love you too!"

Aaron paused for a moment before locking Steve into an embrace, "And I love you!"

There was an awkward moment as the Aaron restrained himself while the others stared at him.

"I, uh," Aaron stuttered, "I just thought it was appropriate for the moment."

"Um, right," Shawn started down the stairs, "We need to get out of here."

* * *

"This way!" Kurt ran down the hallway, followed closely by Kitty, Erin, and Chris. They were nearly to the other end, when Paste shot around the corner.

"You guys don't want to be going this way," he said, out of breath.

"What?" Kurt stopped in surprise, "Why not?"

"Why do you think, Smurf?" Zombie rounded the corner.

"Well," Kurt mumbled, embarrassed, "I guess I was just too stressed to think."

Kitty screamed.

"What's the matter?" Kurt asked, alarmed.

"Your hand's gone!" Kitty pointed at Zombie's left arm.

The students reacted while Zombie looked down at it indifferently. A moment later, Zombie's hand crawled around the corner. Zombie picked it up with his right hand and held it against his left wrist. In moments, his left hand had fused back onto his body.

"It happens," Zombie shrugged.

"So now what?" Erin asked impatiently.

"We're surrounded," Kurt said, fretting.

"So we fight," Paste said calmly.

The others stared at him.

"I've never been known to take things as serious as I should," Paste shrugged before he spun around and ran back around the corner.

The others looked at each other for a moment before Erin grinned, "It could be fun."

Erin dashed around the corner, the others following her. Paste had created a thick, gelatinous wall which the soldiers' bullets were unable to penetrate.

"This won't hold forever," Paste informed them, "I figure when they stop shooting, I can take this thing down and we'll attack."

"Me and Kitty can be the first wave," Kurt suggested, "We don't have to wait for you to take down the wall."

"Cool," Erin said, creating a pink bubble, "'Prolly don't need those gloves, bro."

With realization, Chris removed the mutation-inhibiting gloves. They all sat in silence waiting for the shooting to stop. Moments later, a muffled yell ordered the soldiers to cease.

"Wait for it," Paste said quietly.

The muffled voices seemed to be arguing about who should approach the makeshift wall.

"Ready?" Kurt looked at Kitty, who nodded, "Let's go!"

The unfortunate soldier chosen to approach the wall received a sudden shock as Kitty phased through the slime and landed a kick to his face. He stumbled backward only to trip over Kurt, who had teleported there moments before. Before the other men could react, Paste's wall vanished and a barrage of pink bubbles flowed through the hallway. The men leading the regiment were thrown from their feet as the bubbles collided with them.

One of the men left standing took aim at the girl whom the bubbles seemed to be emanating from. He was startled, however, when a hand grasped his firearm tightly. Pushing the figure away, he took aim once again, but was shocked to find that half of his gun was missing. He looked down as Chris stood up, the other half of the gun turning to dust in the mutant's hand. Before the soldier could react, Chris rammed his shoulder into the man's chest, driving him into a nearby wall. The soldier struck out desperately with his damaged weapon, hitting Chris on the side of the head. Chris stumbled backward, but recovered quickly. A kick to the man's head sent him careening through a window, showering the floor with broken glass.

The two remaining men both took different forms of action. One made a last frantic attempt to eliminate his adversaries, but was quickly foiled when Paste plugged his firearm with a glob of glue. The other man made a run for the nearest escape route. Erin released a particularly large bubble which easily took the retreating man to the floor where he lay unconscious.

"I love a good fight," Erin said, brushing herself off.

"Oh yeah," Kurt said sarcastically, "Those life-threatening situations really contribute to true happiness. Who needs money or fame when you can fight to the death?"

* * *

"We're almost out of here!" Ray called back to the other students. Kyle, Travis, Amara, and Cory trailed right behind Ray in their quest to exit the mansion. They were nearing their destination when a group of soldiers rounded the corner in front of them.

"Halt, mutants!" the group leader shouted, lifting his firearm, "Come quietly or we will have to take drastic measures!"

"Drastic measures," Ray muttered, "Measure this!"

The group leader was thrown backward from the electric shock that radiated from Ray's hands. The other men quickly drew their weapons, preparing to fire. As they fired off their first round, however, Amara simultaneously encased herself in flames, releasing a heat wave that littered the floor with melted bullets.

"This isn't good," Travis said to Kyle, who was now in his massive lizard form, known as Komodo, "We're surrounded."

Behind the five mutants, another group of soldiers was running towards them, drawing their weapons. The men slowed however, shivering. Travis glanced to his right where Cory had a death gaze locked on the men, who had begun to rub at their arms and legs. Travis took this to his advantage and created a shining, red ball of energy in his hands. He quickly hurled it at the shivering men. The orb burst on contact with the men in front scattering the whole group throughout the hallway.

The men blocking the exit had reloaded their guns. Komodo leaped over Ray and Amara, landing in front of the soldiers. His long tail quickly took two of the men off their feet. He lunged towards the middle of the group, the foremost of the men falling to the floor beneath his feet. The rest of the men didn't stand much of a chance against Komodo's massive form.

The other group, however, had risen once again, drawing their weapons. Cory tried to freeze them again, but the men were angry and more determined this time. They continued to advance towards them.

"Forget about them!" Ray shouted, "The exit's open!"

The students started for the door while the frigid men approached them, shaking their limbs to force blood to them. There was a sudden high-pitched war cry and the students spun around, looking for the source.

Bear was sliding down the banister wielding a box of matches, one unlit match clutched in his minuscule hand. The furry mass landed on the floor in front of the soldiers. With a tiny roar of triumph, Bear struck the match against the side of the matchbox, the match igniting immediately. The soldiers stared perplexed at the petite furball wielding the match threateningly. Their shock didn't last long, however, and they began lifting their firearms to aim at Bear. The students stood helplessly by the exit, too far away to get Bear to safety. Amara gasped and clutched Ray in terror, burying her face in his shoulder.

A quick movement from above made men and mutants alike flinch in surprise. The grinning form of Locust dropped from the ceiling, landing right behind Bear. The soldiers quickly raised their weapons, now aiming at Locust. The men were quick, but Locust was quicker. He scooped Bear into his arms, taking the lit match from his tiny paw. He drew a quick breath and exhaled heavily into the miniscule flame. As Locust's flammable breath made contact with the match, the flame expanded drastically to engulf the soldiers before him.

Locust spun around and ran towards the students, Bear still in his arms. As he reached the exit, he joined the students and they all ran from the building. As they ran across the lawn, they heard an explosion and a burning soldier hurtled over their heads.

"Evening, mes amis," Gambit said pleasantly, appearing from where the soldier had come from, "Mind if I join you?"

The students and Locust, joined by Gambit, continued to escape from the property of the Xavier Institute.

* * *

Well, that's just part one...eventually, part two will be uploaded...when it's finished...and hopefully that won't be another half a year...so we'll see...


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